


Smile For You

by Treblemusician



Category: EXO (Band), EXO OT12 - Fandom
Genre: Drama, First Love, First time writing, Fluffy Ending, Getting Together, M/M, Mild Angst, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, Not sure how this will turn out, OT12 (EXO), Team as Family, Trying to be creative about a rare ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26195770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treblemusician/pseuds/Treblemusician
Summary: The EXO members have received a sudden break from their schedules. With Chen's wild ideas and the members' crazy antics, chaos and some unexpected matchmaking ensue.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Lu Han, Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Kind of slow-burn relationship, Lu Han/Oh Sehun, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 10





	1. Ice Breaker

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fic! The story can apply to many other EXO ships as well, but I thought it might be fun to write one that isn't so common. I will try and update from time to time as soon as I can :) I'm not sure how this will turn out . . .

Winter was definitely not Baekhyun’s favourite season, he conceded. While he enjoyed the holiday season and playing in the snow like any other young human being, the frigid cold was more than enough to make him regret coming outside at 7:00 in the morning in the _middle of January_. He must have been delirious from the long practice yesterday.

Why on Earth had he decided to listen to Chanyeol?

Because of their hard work over many months, the managers had decided that the boys deserved a break and had given the EXO members a whole week off to enjoy the winter weather and to take a breather before returning to produce more songs for a new album in the early spring.

All twelve members were relieved to finally get a break and rest from their hectic schedules - and the cameras. Baekhyun had finally gotten the chance to sleep in. So why was he freezing his face off so early in the morning?

“Come on, Baekkie, please, please, please?” his tall roommate had begged the night before as they were getting ready to go to sleep. “It’ll be fun! Jongdae hyung already got everyone else to agree to come! And he promised that he’ll treat us to food after, and then we can all go play together!”

Right. So Chen was the one responsible for this horrid idea and for his currently freezing bones.

Sometimes Baekhyun despised his best friend.

Chen had apparently spontaneously planned a ' _fun excursion_ ' - excuse Baekhyun for the sarcasm - for the EXO members to enjoy together the minute after the managers had broken the news. Baekhyun had heard him whispering excitedly with his other _supposed best friend_ Chanyeol outside the workout room after practice yesterday.

Baekhyun had only agreed to come along because Chanyeol (the wicked brat) had mentioned that all the other members were coming.

Which meant EXO-M along with EXO-K.

Baekhyun glanced to his side. Chanyeol himself was bouncing energetically in the snow, chatting animatedly to a half-asleep and sullen Kyungsoo, while looking over and smiling at Baekhyun from time to time. Baekhyun couldn’t help laughing a little at D.O.’s _what have I done to deserve this?_ expression.

Baekhyun agreed with him. The cold was making his teeth chatter, and his legs were already numb.

The door to their dormitory opened, and Baekhyun immediately glanced over. Kai, Suho and Sehun made their way over, followed by Tao and Kris, all bundled up in heavy winter clothes. The group started to complain about the cold and the early hour, huddling together for warmth. Moving over a little to join them, Baekhyun kept his eyes on the door.

At that moment, a strong gust of wind showered snow all over the members, making them shriek and jump around. Baekhyun pulled his hat lower on his head and slouched into his coat as much as possible, hopping around and wiggling to keep warm. For goodness’ sake, he absolutely hated waiting in the cold, and he hated meanie Chen! Chen was the one who had made the plan, so why wasn’t he here at the specified time?

As soon as Baekhyun glanced over at the building door, it opened again to reveal Xiumin, who stepped out with a big smile, and . . . Luhan.

Baekhyun stopped squirming.

There was one good thing about winter, he thought.

Seeing Luhan wearing a puffy silvery-white winter jacket with fluffy white fur on his hood framing his face made him temporarily forget about the cold.

He watched, unable to tear his eyes away, as Luhan and Xiumin walked towards their group, laughing at some private joke.

Xiumin had his arm around the younger’s shoulders. Baekhyun’s gaze lingered on Luhan’s face, the way he smiled, bright against the still-falling snow. He was carrying a tray with several paper cups with lids.

“Hey guys, we brought you hot chocolate!” Luhan announced to the members, who whooped and cheered, crowding around to take a cup.

Joining the others, Baekhyun found himself face-to-face with Luhan, who handed him a paper cup, his eyes twinkling in the faint morning light. Their fingers touched briefly, and Baekhyun quickly looked away from those eyes, trying to fight the heat rising in his face. He offered his trademark grin instead, taking the cup and stepping back.

“Thanks for the drink!” he said brightly, glad to finally have something to chase away the cold.

He took a sip of the drink, tipping his head back. The hot liquid spread down his body; the warmth was amazing. The drink was thick, rich and sweet, and it tasted like heaven at the moment. Which was why he let out an uncontrollable (probably not-so-appropriate) groan as he swallowed, and he opened his eyes wide with surprise.

“Oh my god, I love you!” he mumbled as the warmth coursed through his body. The heat seeped through his gloves, thawing his frozen fingers. “Wow, this is amazing! Did you make it yourself?” he asked.

The other members agreed, voicing out their compliments and gratitude.

Luhan was staring fixedly at the ground. His cheeks were a little bit pink, but Baekhyun figured that it must have been from the cold.

“Luhannie melted different kinds of chocolate bars! It’s soooo good…” Xiumin slurped, lost in the abyss of his cup.

“That’s so smart,” Suho praised, licking chocolate off his lip. “It’s better than that horrible coffee we were forced to drink last time.”

“Hey!” Tao looked offended. “It wasn’t _that_ bad!”

Baekhyun stuck out his tongue childishly.

“Are you kidding? It was WAY beyond bad!” He made a _yuck_ face and everyone laughed, as usual.

Baekhyun looked over to see Luhan hit Xiumin on the shoulder.

“Xiumin wanted to use the powder mix again. He didn’t even realize that it was expired!” Luhan squeezed Xiumin in his arms while the other apologized, giggling.

“Ew! Did you want to poison us, Minseok hyung?” Chanyeol called out, grinning.

“Even I wasn’t that bad!” Tao piped up again, and they all laughed, smacking him.

Baekhyun swallowed the last of his drink when he caught sight of Luhan smiling - at Sehun.

“Actually, Sehunnie was the one who gave me the chocolate,” he said, holding out his arms.

Sehun (evil, sneaky maknae Sehun) smiled with his (horribly ugly) crescent shaped eyes and went forward to hug - hug! - Luhan while Xiumin laughed beside them.

Baekhyun suddenly didn’t feel so warm anymore. He shuffled closer to Chanyeol and stared at the ground, kicking the snow with his boot, until he heard Chen’s loud voice approaching. He looked up to see Chen arriving with Lay, the two of them shivering in the cold air.

“You sure took your sweet old time!” Baekhyun crossed his arms, tapping his foot. Chen laughed, apologizing with Lay as Luhan handed them their hot chocolate. Baekhyun didn’t miss the way Lay gave Luhan’s hand a squeeze in thanks.

“Okay, everyone, listen up!” Chen grinned widely as Suho burst out laughing.

“Wow, you’re such a _great_ leader, Chen!”

Chen went over to smack him before clearing his throat.

“As I was saying, since we finally have a break from our busy schedules, we should take this opportunity and go have some fun! Are you guys excited?”

“YEAH!” Chanyeol - and only Chanyeol - yelled.

Everyone laughed and Baekhyun kicked some snow at Chanyeol.

“Be quiet, it’s way too early for this - eek!” Baekhyun shivered as Chanyeol stuffed some snow down the back of his neck. “You evil brat! I’ll get you for this!” Baekhyun reached down to scoop up some snow when he realized Chen was looking at him impatiently. In a fit of pettiness, Baekhyun stuck his tongue out. Chen rolled his eyes.

“I convinced our managers to drive us around without the other staff. They should be waiting in the parking lot, so let’s go!”

“Yeah!” Chanyeol pumped his fist and this time Baekhyun really did slam a snowball to the back of his head.

Served him right.

He quickly scurried over to hide behind D.O. from Chanyeol’s revenge.

D.O. gave him the evil eye.

“What are you doing?” he asked dryly, his face dead serious.

“Come on, you know Chanyeol’s going to kill me! You love me, right, Kyungie? Help me, please?” Baekhyun pouted, clinging on to D. O.’s arm as the latter looked conflicted between either a) leaving Baekhyun to Chanyeol’s mercy or b) helping him, to which he himself may accidentally be subjected to getting hit by snow as well.

“Fine,” D.O. answered reluctantly. “But if I get hit, you’ll regret it.”

“Yay! Thanks, you’re the best!” Baekhyun knew that Chanyeol wouldn’t risk getting D.O.’s wrath, so he was safe for the time being.

As he hopped along beside D.O., Baekhyun turned and noticed Luhan watching him. Feeling pleased, Baekhyun gave him a big smile, but Luhan didn’t smile back. Instead, Luhan had a small frown on his face as he turned to talk with Sehun next to him. Baekhyun felt his heart sink and he stopped smiling. He could feel the cold numbing his hands again. At that moment, he wished he could go back to his room and snuggle back in his bed.

D.O. noticed his change in expression and squeezed his hand in a rare attempt of comfort. Baekhyun looked at him gratefully as they approached the parking lot.

* * *

The car ride was mostly silent. Baekhyun wasn’t in the same car as Luhan, so he had some time to adjust his mood. Cracking a few jokes, he gradually felt more cheerful again as he laughed with the other members. When the group arrived at their destination, Baekhyun jumped out of the car in the slowly brightening daylight and stopped, staring wide-eyed at the scene before him.

Chen had taken them all to an outdoor skating rink . . . and Baekhyun couldn’t really skate.

He narrowed his eyes at Chen.

“Hey, don’t get upset! It’ll be fun, I promise! I’m not a good skater either!” Chen quickly tried to placate him. “And,” he lowered his voice, getting a rather alarming sneaky look in his eyes, “You can finally get some time with your precious Luhannie hyung.”

Baekhyun felt a shiver run down his spine.

“What do you mean?” he asked in suspicion. This was the hundredth time he regretted admitting the truth about his feelings to his friend. Chen was going to ruin everything! “I can’t even skate!” he crossed his arms. “How am I supposed to not only avoid looking like a fool in front of him, but to get him to pay attention to me?”

Chen gave him a grin that was not the least bit reassuring.

“Just wait and see,” he replied in a way that was supposed to be ambiguous but had the complete opposite effect. Baekhyun felt his stomach churn in anxiety.

“Do you have something to do with this?” he demanded at Chanyeol, who had been standing nearby. Chen grabbed Chanyeol’s arm and pulled him away before he could reply.

“You’ll see! Go and have fun! Don’t mind us!” They both waved cheekily and set off for the skate rental area.

Sighing, Baekhyun prepared himself for the mental exhaustion that was sure to ensue and grudgingly followed them inside. They had apparently rented out the whole rink and training center, so for once there wouldn’t be any fans or other people besides the staff. No one would willingly come out to freeze so early in the morning anyway, Baekhyun thought.

He waited in line with Kai, D.O. and Suho to get fitted for skates.

“I’m going to cream you guys,” he joked, puffing up his chest.

“Yeah, right,” Kai scoffed, linking arms with D.O. and Suho, “We’ll be laughing at you when you crawl behind us.” The four of them received their skates and walked off to change into them.

Baekhyun caught sight of Luhan lacing his skates expertly with Kris and Lay before standing up with a little spin. The little deer bent over to help Kris fix the knotted mess of laces on his skates as Kris, clearly done with life, leaned back against the wall. The two of them laughed at something Lay said before putting away their boots. Baekhyun felt a rush of panic as he hurried over to Chen.

“I can’t do this,” he hissed, dragging Chen to a corner, “This isn’t going to work.”

“Calm down, Baekhyun! Why are you so nervous? I thought you would love this golden opportunity!” Chen looked at him carefully. “Come to think of it, why haven’t you confessed your feelings yet? You’re usually not so shy. It’s been months since you told me you had a crush on Luhan, but nothing has changed since!”

Baekhyun flinched, then put his hand over Chen’s mouth, quickly whipping around to look behind him.

Luckily, Luhan - and the other members - didn’t seem to have noticed his distress.

“Geez, could you get any louder?” He dropped his hand and sighed in relief. He stared at the ground. “You - you know, I just don’t want to rush things,” he mumbled, embarrassed. He remembered how Luhan had frowned at him earlier. “And I don’t think he likes me back,” he finished miserably, “I think he and Sehun or maybe Minseok hyung would get along better.”

Chen looked at him sympathetically, patting him on the shoulder.

“That’s not true,” he tried to convince his friend, “Just take it easy and go with the flow today if you’re not comfortable, but try to cheer up and enjoy yourself! And as for who Luhan hyung is interested in...I think you’ll be surprised if - ahem, _when_ \- you confess.” He attempted to wink enigmatically, then reached for Baekhyun’s skates. “Here, let me help you put these on.”

Baekhyun coughed, mildly horrified from Chen’s (hideous) wink, but he was grateful for his best friend’s encouragement and followed him to take a seat on the benches. Chen showed him how to properly tie his skates, tightly and firmly to support his ankles.

“Minseok hyung taught me how to tie them,” Chen admitted. “I’m hoping that he’ll help me skate today, so that I won’t be falling all over the place.” He gave a final yank on Baekhyun’s laces before standing up. “Come on,” he pulled Baekhyun up and started for the rink, where the other members had already gathered.

Baekhyun gripped Chen’s arm tightly, trying not to fall over as they both stumbled over to the group.

“Is everyone ready?” Chen asked as he surveyed the members. All of them nodded except for D.O. , who was trying to stuff Kai’s head into a helmet.

“I don’t need a helmet!” Kai protested, “You know I’ve been skating for years! I’ll be fine without one!”

“I don’t care,” D.O. stubbornly pulled on the chin strap. “I don’t want to be the one patching you up if you crack your skull open. You know I don’t like dealing with blood.”

“But hyung, it’s uncomfortable!” Kai tried, whining a little.

D.O. gave him a flat look, then dropped his hold on the helmet and turned away.

“Okay, fine! I’ll wear it!” Kai cried, giving up. He tugged childishly on D.O.’s arm. Baekhyun smirked at how Kai was such a sucker for Kyungsoo. Chen cleared his throat.

“So, I see that we’re all ready,” he stated.

“Let’s have a competition!” Kai voiced out, clearly impatient to show off (for Kyungsoo).

“Yeah! I want to play a game!” Chanyeol agreed.

Suho shook his head, frowning at them in disapproval.

“It would be better if all the members who are good skaters could help the members who can’t skate,” He looked at them meaningfully.

“Yes, Mom, we will be kind children,” Baekhyun said quietly, just loud enough to make Kai and Xiumin snicker.

“That was the plan,” Chen elbowed Suho before continuing, “So let’s get everybody to partner up first. We can play a game together later,” he added to Chanyeol and Kai.

Baekhyun stood still as the other members started to clamor around and get into pairs. He tried to make his way over to Chanyeol, but before he could grab his arm, Chen appeared with an annoyed look on his face.

“What do you think you are doing, Mister?” Chen pulled Chanyeol further away.

Baekhyun glared at him and pouted.

“I’m just following your orders, Sir. Who else am I supposed to skate with?”

Chen huffed in exasperation. Baekhyun was slightly concerned for his facial muscles from how hard he was scowling. Maybe he could get Chen a face-lifting device or sculptor for his next birthday…

He winced as Chen’s loud voice echoed in his ears,

“Obviously you’re supposed to skate with - ” he stopped suddenly, eyes narrowing.

The three of them had turned to see a wildly wobbling Kris clinging on to the smaller figure for dear life as Luhan slowly helped him to the ice. Baekhyun bit his lip as he looked back at Chen helplessly.

Before Baekhyun could do anything else, Chen clobbered over with an intense look in his eyes, bulldozing over to the pair and pulling on Luhan’s arm.

Luhan looked at him nervously as Chen smiled a little too wide and more than a little threatening.

Baekhyun found himself wondering again about the condition of his facial muscles.

Shaking his head, he focused on Luhan’s bewildered expression; all big wide eyes and open pink mouth, all pretty and perfect and - wait - why was he turning to look at Baekhyun? Chen smirked in satisfaction as he quickly fixed the situation.

“Ah, Luhan hyung, would you mind helping Baekhyunnie skate? You’re both close in size. I think Kris hyung should pair up with Chanyeollie, since they’re both tall, you know? I’m sure Baekhyun will learn quickly,” he improvised, voice overly cheerful.

Luhan blinked in confusion as Chen pulled Kris over to Chanyeol, purposefully ignoring the icy glare he received from the tallest member.

“Yay! Kris hyung, let’s go!” Chanyeol squealed before dragging Kris onto the ice and taking off at a rapid speed. Luhan winced as he heard Kris’ yells of terror echoing around the rink.

Before Luhan could respond to the situation, Xiumin slid to a stop before them, showering them with ice shavings.

“Hey, guys! Why are you still here? Aren’t you coming to skate?” He glanced at Chen and suddenly looked down anxiously.

“Um, Chen, do you want to skate with me? Uh, I mean, um, I - I can teach you?” he wrung his hands, ears flaming red. Chen let out a laugh, clearly delighted.

It scared Baekhyun how quickly his facial expression had changed from menacing to sugary sweet in barely half a second. He shuddered unconsciously.

Maybe it was time for him to get some better friends.

“You’re so nice for offering,” Chen took hold of Xiumin’s arm and looked smugly at Baekhyun.

“No problem,” Xiumin grinned, clearly relieved that Chen had accepted his offer. Baekhyun made an obnoxious kissy face.

He definitely needed to make new friends, he confirmed, as out of nowhere, before leaving, Chen gave Baekhyun a push so hard that he nearly tripped and slammed straight into Luhan. Estimating that a few more of his hairs had turned white from the shock, Baekhyun made a mental note to never trust Chen again. The initial panic wearing off, he turned to apologize to Luhan when he saw the other smiling at him hesitantly.

“Um, I don’t mind skating with you,” Luhan said softly in response to Chen’s suggestion - or demand, rather. “I mean, um, only if you’d like to…” he looked at Baekhyun shyly, voice even quieter. Aww, was he nervous? Baekhyun found him absolutely adorable.

He steadied himself. Here was the opportunity. It was now or never, he resolved. With a spontaneous burst of confidence, Baekhyun reached out and grabbed Luhan’s hand and gave him a large smile (obviously a thousand times better looking than Chen’s, he thought).

“Of course, I would love to skate with you, Luhan hyung!” he answered, and was gratified to see Luhan’s shy expression relax into a more open one. “With you and me together, we’re going to steal the show! We’re going to beat Kris hyung and Chanyeol so badly and shove it in their faces!”

His heartbeat sped up as Luhan burst out laughing, his eyes glinting merrily, his voice tinkling like music. He was glad he could make the other laugh so easily. He was just too cute, Baekhyun decided. Even though Luhan was older and a bit taller than himself, Baekhyun, like the vast majority of the population, found the little deer Luhan to be absolutely, irresistibly lovable and cutesy, like a small baby animal.

A moment later, after catching his breath, Luhan looked at him, a shimmer still in his eyes, and helped steady him onto the ice. After a slight initial wobble, Baekhyun managed to straighten himself and inch forward a little. Feeling proud, Baekhyun put his hands on his hips.

“Hey, people! The ultimate world-class skating champion is here!” he hollered as the other members shook their heads in resignation at his overexcited and unlimited energy.

“We’ll see who the real winner is later,” Kai tossed over his shoulder as he sped by in a blur, towing a panicked-looking Kyungsoo behind him.

Baekhyun heard Luhan giggling next to him, and beamed radiantly in his direction before continuing to move forward. See, it wasn’t as hard as he’d thought! He shot forward about three metres before he lost balance and went sprawling.

Luhan hurried over to help him up, looking concerned at the sight of Baekhyun lying spread-eagled on the ice. Ugh, it probably was as hard as he’d thought, if the pain shooting down Baekhyun’s back was any indication. He was sure the others would be laughing their heads off at him.

“Are you okay?” he heard Luhan ask him before arriving beside him and pulling him up. Baekhyun nodded and gripped Luhan’s arm tightly, his previous confidence disappearing at once.

“Here, grab on to me,” Luhan urged him, turning around. Baekhyun hesitated and drew back a little before obeying, putting his arms tentatively around Luhan’s narrow waist, trying not to seem overly touchy. Wasn’t this situation a little too weird and awkward? He gasped in surprise as he felt Luhan pull his arms tighter around him.

“You need to hold on tighter if you don’t want to fall. Don’t worry, I’m not that fragile,” he teased, and started moving them over to a more secluded area of the rink with more open space.

“Good to know, Luhan hyung. I wouldn’t want you to snap from the strength of my arms,” Baekhyun joked back with a small grin, grateful that the tension had drained away.

His joy was short-lived. A few seconds later, Baekhyun wobbled and nearly sent the two of them crashing down again, and Luhan narrowly caught them in time from face-planting on the ice. Baekhyun apologized hurriedly in embarrassment, but Luhan just smiled, steadying them and tightening Baekhyun’s arms around his waist before continuing forward.

“We’re here now,” Luhan got the two of them to slow down before stopping. It was a good thing that Baekhyun hadn’t let go of him yet, because the second he turned and tried to take a step, he slipped, nearly smashing right into Chanyeol and Kris who were gambolling about nearby.

“Hey! Watch out!” Chanyeol yelled, tripping a few steps and flinging himself to the side along with Kris.

Served him right.

“Sorry, Channie!” Baekhyun got out before tilting dangerously forward. Luhan yelped, scrambling desperately to keep Baekhyun and himself from falling.

Unfortunately, Baekhyun tried to cling onto him and they both fell over, the back of Luhan’s head smacking the ice with Baekhyun plunging down on his knees, his face buried in the older’s chest, his arms still still around his hips.

Baekhyun felt his face heat up in mortification as neither of them moved for a moment. Why did he have to be so clumsy? His heartbeat started racing as he took in the situation. After all, Luhan was very close to him, pinned underneath his body. And Baekhyun had just been contemplating the fact that he was in love with him.

Baekhyun clearly had the worst luck in the world.

“Oh no, Luhan hyung, are you okay?” D.O. rushed over, followed by Kai.

Baekhyun’s cheeks burned as he realized that the others were staring at their positions, and hastily pushed himself off of Luhan to a sitting position, apologizing quickly. D.O. was inspecting Luhan’s head carefully.

“See, this is why I made you wear a helmet,” he was saying to Kai. “You should be glad that you listened to me.” D.O. gently touched the back of Luhan’s head. “Are you sure you’re okay, hyung? Does it still hurt?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Luhan responded, a little breathlessly. Baekhyun noticed in surprise that his face was a bit flushed.

“Maybe we should get you checked out,” Kai suggested anxiously. “Head injuries could be serious.”

D.O. gave him a meaningful look before turning back to Luhan.

“No, it’s okay, I’m alright,” Luhan said, sitting up with D.O.’s help. “For real. I’m really fine,” he added, seeing Kai’s and D.O.’s worried expressions.

“Well...okay, if you’re sure,” Kai looked uncertain. “What about you, Baekhyun? You're okay, right?”

His head still swimming from what had just happened, Baekhyun nodded without a word.

“Then...we’re going back. Be careful,” Kai told them, linking arms with D.O. , waving as they left.

Baekhyun’s attention was still focused on Luhan, nervous about his reaction. Was he really alright? Was he going to be angry? He probably wouldn’t want to continue skating...Baekhyun was hopeless at skating after all…

“I’m really sorry about that, Luhan hyung; I didn’t mean to - ”

His voice cut off and he stared, shocked and confused as Luhan took a deep breath, clenching his teeth in determination before holding out his hands to Baekhyun, the blush disappearing from his cheeks.

“Here, grab onto my hands.” Instead of reprimanding him, moving swiftly, Luhan managed to carefully heave the younger man back onto his feet. Keeping his grip on Baekhyun’s hands, Luhan turned to face him directly before starting to slowly skate backwards, close to the edge of the rink. Baekhyun, still shocked, let himself be pulled along, his legs wobbling as he moved forward. His skates seemed to skitter in different directions, refusing to follow where he was going, his body following awkwardly, making it hard to balance. He furrowed his brow in frustration.

“Try straightening a little. You’re actually doing pretty well,” Luhan encouraged, and Baekhyun promptly stumbled, nearly falling again for the gazillionth time. Luhan righted himself and tightened his hold on the younger’s hands.

Baekhyun looked up, embarrassed, to see Luhan smiling calmly. His gaze lingered on the firm press of his pink mouth, observing the way the sunlight highlighted strands of Luhan’s fluffy hair, making him look ethereal. Baekhyun was temporarily distracted by those clear, jewel-like eyes and his delicate, pearly light skin…

“Wow, you’re doing a lot better!” Baekhyun blinked at the sound of Luhan’s voice, shaking himself out of his daydream. “Look, your balance is really good now.”

“Really?” Baekhyun turned around and realized that it was true. While his focus had been on Luhan, he’d actually straightened and had stopped wobbling as much. He was now being pulled smoothly across the ice. He grinned in surprised delight. “See, I knew I was a champion ice skater!” he gloated, and waved at Chanyeol, who was dragging Kris around the rink yet again.

“Hey, Channie! Look at me!” he yelled, and Chanyeol sent him a thumbs-up before suddenly turning to a stop right next to them, much to Kris’ horror.

“Yo, watch out!” Kris glared at Chanyeol as he picked himself back upright, dusting ice shavings from his clothes. Chanyeol grinned back cheekily.

“Aw, come on, Kris hyung, we’ve been going at a snail’s pace the whole time! We should play a game now!”

“That’s because you skate like a maniacal lunatic on steroids, and unlike you, I would like to keep my face on, thank you very much,” Kris huffed, crossing his arms. “Besides, playing games is not my style.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes along with Chanyeol. Nothing was ever Kris’ style. There was apparently nothing cool enough to keep up with him.

“We’ll see about that,” Chanyeol smirked. It was the face he made whenever he had an (evil) idea.

“So I suppose losing is your style then?” Before Kris could react, Chanyeol took hold of his arm and took off at breakneck speed. “Good luck, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol called over his shoulder as he sped away.

“YAAAHHHH!” Kris’ voice rang out, and Baekhyun and Luhan giggled at the sight. Then Luhan turned to the younger, still smiling.

“You’re doing really well now,” he said, and Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile back with pride. “Is it okay if I let go?” Baekhyun hesitated, tightening his grasp on Luhan’s hands on reflex. Then he nodded, and Luhan pulled his hands away, skating a few paces ahead.

Baekhyun shivered from the sudden lack of warmth.

He tried to take a step, a little shakily, then stopped, nervous. It didn’t feel right without Luhan’s hands there to guide him. He held his arm out towards the fluffy-haired boy.

“Um, do you - I mean, could you, um, keep…?” he fumbled cleverly. Wow. He clearly was the quick-witted one in their group.

Luhan simply nodded and skated over, taking his hand and squeezing it.

“Sure, let’s go around together,” he said and Baekhyun melted before he mentally cursed himself for being so weak for Luhan. Since when had he become so dependent on another person? He was usually extremely energetic and self-confident. Honestly speaking, Luhan was the only one who could make Baekhyun tongue-tied and feel like a nervous wreck or a bumbling idiot. Or both.

Slowly, Luhan gently led Baekhyun in a smooth circle around the rink; not pulling or forcing him, but just reassuringly letting Baekhyun know that he was there, with him. A little while later, they were skating in curves together, as Baekhyun gradually got the hang of turning. Being a good dancer certainly helped him maneuver his body and balance relatively quickly. Baekhyun couldn’t help beaming with pride as he managed to skate in a circle around Luhan all by himself without slipping.

“Yay! Look, Luhan hyung, I did it! I bet I can be the next Olympic gold medalist at this rate! Don’t you-”

He looked over to see Luhan smiling and his words died in his throat. Luhan was smiling - a different smile, soft and sweet, with pride and fondness, a special smile that made his eyes incandescent and made Baekhyun feel all fluttery and fuzzy with warmth. Baekhyun’s brain stalled and all he could think was that he wanted, more than anything, to discover all the different smiles Luhan could create and capture the moments all for himself.

Ugh. He was starting to think like a dramatic, obsessive teenage girl.

Realizing that he was probably staring weirdly along with his awkward silence, Baekhyun coughed, embarrassed, and shook his head.

Luhan skated over, his smile replaced with his usual grin, and motioned towards the building entrance.

“I’m kind of cold,” he admitted, “Do you want to go get something warm to drink?”

Nodding eagerly, Baekhyun followed Luhan off the ice and inside the rental building, where there was a little café just opening at this early hour. The frigid air disappeared as the door swung shut behind them, and Luhan relaxed visibly in the warmth. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and fresh-baked bread filled the air, and Baekhyun felt hunger crawling in his stomach. They hadn’t eaten breakfast yet after all. The two of them found Chen at the counter with two paper cups, presumably coffee, and a handful of cream and sugar packets. Baekhyun bounced over excitedly.

“Hey, Dae! Is that for me? Can I have some?” He tried to take a cup of coffee, but Chen held it out of his reach.

“Sorry, but...this is actually for Xiumin hyung,” Chen blushed a little as Baekhyun cackled in glee.

“Ooh, smooth move, Dae. So you want to win him over with coffee?” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

He squeaked as Chen moved to hit him.

“Hey, at least I’m putting in effort to make a move! Unlike you with Luhan hyung,” Chen retorted.

Baekhyun turned to see the cute little deer talking with the cashier and sighed, thinking about the bit of progress he’d made that morning.

“It's actually working out. We’re getting along really well. He’s so nice to me!” he told Chen happily.

Chen didn’t look so sure.

“I don’t think that counts as anything yet. He’s nice to everybody, Baekhyunnie. Here, watch this,” Chen sidled up to Luhan, who turned to greet him with his pretty smile.

Ugh. Baekhyun watched as Chen put on a (way too greasy) cute pout and shook the older boy’s arm in a pleading way.

“Luhan hyung, I wanted to buy some cookies for me and Xiumin hyung, but I left my money in the car. Will you buy some for me? Please, Luhannie hyung?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes in disgust. There was no way anyone else would fall for that nauseating act.

Chen was just trying to mooch off of Luhan’s money and kindness.

Just then, Sehun came in with Tao, the two of them removing their gloves and rubbing their fingers.

“Hey, are you buying him something, Luhan hyung? Can you buy me something too?” Sehun asked, quickly taking in the situation.

“Me too, please?” Tao joined in.

“What? I have to pay for all of you?” Luhan asked with wide eyes. Baekhyun could see him mentally calculating how much he would have to spend.

“Please, Luhannie hyung!” Chen begged.

“Please, Hannie!” Sehun supplied. Baekhyun turned to stare at him. _Hannie?!_ Since when did he get to call him Hannie? It was cute, he thought before he could stop himself.

“Hey, don’t call me that!” Luhan frowned, and smacked Sehun in the head while the maknae giggled unconcernedly.

“Luhannie hyung,” Chen pouted, and Luhan sighed. “Okay, Chen.” He dug out his wallet.

“Hyung!” Sehun immediately stopped giggling.

“Ge!” Tao pleaded, and Luhan relented with a resigned smile.

“Sure, guys. Go pick whatever you want,” he waved them on.

“Really? Thanks, you’re the best, hyung!” Baekhyun squashed down his irritation at how close they were being with his little deer. Chen gave Luhan a hug before giving Baekhyun a wink and a smug look. He went off, chattering with Tao and Sehun as they selected what they wanted to order.

True to his word, Luhan paid for them and they thanked him again before going off to sit down at a table. Xiumin came out from the bathroom, drying his hands, and Chen shyly offered him his drink and cookies. They walked off together, both looking happy with pink cheeks. Baekhyun grinned to himself. He was happy for Chen after all, even if he didn’t admit it to his face. He jumped in shock as he felt a tap on his arm. Luhan was there, looking at him with worry as he calmed himself down rapidly.

“Are you okay? Sorry if I scared you.” His face was scrunched in concern, his lips pressed together nervously, and Baekhyun had the sudden urge to touch his face with his fingertips and smooth his expression back into a smile.

“Um, yeah, I’m...good,” he replied awkwardly, feeling embarrassed. Luhan handed him a coffee cup and a paper bag with biscuits and a croissant.

“Here, I got you a drink and something to eat. Do you want to sit down or walk around?”

Baekhyun wanted to go somewhere away from the others, specifically Tao and Sehun.

“Is it okay if we walk around the arena?” he asked. Then he promptly felt terrible. Luhan was probably exhausted from helping and teaching him to skate all morning. He would probably much rather sit down to take a break… Baekhyun felt guilty for being selfish.

“Sure, let’s go then.”

He stared, wide-eyed, as Luhan smiled softly and held out his hand. Somehow, the dim overhead lights of the café and the bit of sunlight streaming in through the windows managed to envelope Luhan, highlighting his features and making him look positively angelic. Belatedly, he realized that Luhan had taken his hand and was leading him out of the store.

Still dazed, Baekhyun took a large gulp of his drink and nearly burnt his tongue. Swallowing his pain, he inhaled in surprise as the sweet, rich taste spread smoothly over his taste buds, almost like caramel. He made a low noise in his throat, enjoying the taste. This definitely wasn’t regular coffee.

“Do you like it?” Luhan was observing him, a little grin playing on his lips. “It’s French vanilla. I thought you might like it better than just coffee.”

Touched by his thoughtful gesture, Baekhyun could only nod. He felt flutterflies dancing in his chest from how happy and content he was.

“I - Thank you, Luhan hyung.”

* * *

Baekhyun was feeling warm enough to take off his hat and scarf. It was noon, and the sun was high in the sky. The EXO members were heading back inside to change out of their skates. They had just finished playing several games, including racing and going through obstacle courses. Chanyeol had even managed to get Kris to join in. Baekhyun wondered how - but then again, it was Chanyeol. He had probably threatened him one way or another. Kai won the races, much to his delight, and they all fell a lot and laughed at one another.

All in all, it had been a really fun trip, even if Baekhyun hadn’t been able to partner up with Luhan during the games. It had been just what they needed - some time together as a group without the pressure of work on top.

And it was a relief not to have the cameras following them everywhere they went. Baekhyun was glad that Chanyeol had dragged him out that day.

Feeling extra-cheerful, Baekhyun fell back beside Luhan as the group headed back to the parking lot.

“Thanks for helping me skate today, Luhan hyung. You were really patient with me. You’re a great teacher!” he smiled shyly.

“It was fun,” Luhan replied, “But I could have done without the bruises!” he teased, crossing his arms. Baekhyun flushed.

“Sorry about that,” he grinned, and ruffled Luhan's hair. He was feeling elated and floaty from being so close to Luhan.

Then his stomach dropped at Luhan’s next words.

“I was wondering...are you sure you’re alright? You said you were okay earlier, but you’ve been acting a bit strange today.” Luhan paused, studying Baekhyun carefully. “Is something bothering you? I mean, you’ve been joking around like usual, but you were less...rowdy and loud and more, um, calm today. And when I was buying drinks for the others, you looked kind of upset. Normally you would have joined them and pestered me to buy you something, right?”

Baekhyun felt as though a ton of bricks had dropped on his chest.

So this...this was how Luhan thought of him? As someone who was burdensome and annoying, who only bothered him for favours?

Was that the reason that Luhan had taken care of him so much that whole time? Because he’d felt bad for him? Baekhyun didn’t want to believe it.

He hated it.

* * *

Luhan bit the inside of his cheek, worried as Baekhyun’s face suddenly fell at his words. He looked so upset...it wasn’t normal. Was it something he said? But he truly was concerned about him. The younger one had been acting different all day. And although Luhan didn’t mind - he enjoyed, even - the other’s new calmer attitude, he hoped that it wasn’t because of something bad that had happened.

He didn’t want to see Baekhyun stop smiling.

Luhan stared, confused, as Baekhyun suddenly stepped away from him.

“I’m fine.” Baekhyun averted his eyes, pulling his hat on again. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Then the younger left, walking ahead to latch onto D.O.’s arm instead.

Leaving Luhan alone behind the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you are enjoying it! Thank you for reading! I will try to post the next parts soon!


	2. Cold Shoulder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baekhyun has so many great friends! But Luhan's day keeps getting worse...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how this is developing, but hopefully it's okay!

“What are you thinking?”

Luhan jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Xiumin’s nose barely an inch away from his own. He moved his head back in shock, smacking into the window, then winced in pain as the older laughed.

“So? What were you thinking about that made you so spacey?” Xiumin asked curiously. “You’ve suddenly become…” he paused, searching for the right word, “I don’t know…gloomy. And depressed. And kind of pitiful.” He leaned back to study Luhan critically. 

“Wow, thanks,” Luhan gritted out, gingerly touching the sore spot on the back of his head. It was the second time he’d hit his head in the span of a few hours. He wondered what had happened to his luck. 

Probably gone like yesterday, he thought dryly before burrowing himself back in his seat. He scrunched his face in annoyance as Xiumin elbowed him once again.

“Come on, you know you can tell me what’s bothering you,” Xiumin stuck out his bottom lip. Luhan thought he looked rather like a petulant toddler and couldn’t help giving a half-smile. “Maybe I can help with your woes.”

Luhan shrugged, not willing to dampen the atmosphere any further.

“It’s nothing, I’m just kind of tired,” he offered in reply. It was sort of true. After they’d gotten on the cars for their return trip from the skating rink, Luhan had felt all his energy drain away, and exhaustion had started to seep in, taking its place. 

He closed his eyes as he recalled the strange situation with Baekhyun in the parking lot just a few minutes ago. From the way the younger’s attitude had suddenly changed negatively while they were talking, Luhan suspected that he had done something wrong. But what was it? 

He didn’t understand. 

He had only been concerned for his friend’s wellbeing. 

Maybe Baekhyun didn’t really like spending time with him; he’d only humoured him to be polite when Chen had asked them to be partners. Luhan knew that he wasn’t really talkative, which was a contrast to Baekhyun’s more outgoing personality. Maybe Baekhyun was tired of being around someone who didn’t share his enthusiasm.

Sighing quietly, he listened to the others chatter amongst themselves as the car continued on its way through the streets towards the downtown shopping district. 

“Hey! Who took such an ugly photo of me? How could you?” he heard Tao complain from the seat in front of him as Xiumin laughed unhelpfully. 

“It’s not my fault! You just look too weird with your panda eyes,” Kris countered, snatching his phone back. “Fine, I’ll buy you something later to make it up to you.”

“You better not be lying. I have a lot of things that I want to buy!” Tao sniffed. 

Luhan cracked a smile. Hopefully that would help cheer him up as well.

* * *

Baekhyun clung onto Chanyeol tightly like a giant koala the moment they got in their car, huddling against him in the back seats. Chanyeol raised his eyebrows at his odd behaviour.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” he asked, taking the smaller boy’s hand and gripping it tightly in reassurance. Baekhyun buried his head in the front of Chanyeol’s coat.

“Channie,” he sniffled, “I want to go back home.” He felt Chanyeol put his arm around him and snuggled deeper in the taller’s embrace. Chanyeol frowned. Baekhyun had seemed fine just a few minutes ago.

“Are you feeling okay? Can you tell me why?”

Baekhyun twisted to look up at him with big, imploring eyes. Chanyeol could see them glistening even in the dim space inside the car.

“Be honest, Channie,” Baekhyun said in a slightly quavering voice, “Do you think I’m annoying and burdening? Do you think of me as someone who leeches off of others?” His voice dropped off at the end.

Chanyeol furrowed his brow in confusion. Where were these questions coming from?

“Of course not! I don’t think of you like that!” he quickly reassured his friend. He gently ran his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair in a calming way. 

“I don’t, because… because I know what kind of person you really are. I know that you’re kind and really caring deep down, even if you act all silly and crazy. And being silly and funny is a really great part of your personality, because you make people happy. I know that you take time to be considerate for others, and try to help them however you can in your own way. You’re a good person, Baekkie.” He paused, watching Baekhyun slowly look a bit less miserable.

“Really? You think so? Do… do the others think of me like that too?”

Chanyeol nodded, tapping him on the nose.

“And even if you were annoying, how could you possibly ask _me_ that question? I’m the master of annoying and the king of crazy,” Chanyeol grinned. “But you know you all love me anyway!”

Baekhyun sniffled and slowly smiled back. 

“True. You’re an annoying brat,” he stuck out his tongue, “but I can’t imagine what it would be like without you.” He snuggled even closer to Chanyeol, feeling lighter than a few moments ago.

“Thank you, Channie.”

The car was silent. Baekhyun couldn’t tell if the other members were listening or not, but he supposed it didn’t matter. They were probably all tired from skating. 

“You can show me how much you love me by buying me something when we go shopping later,” Chanyeol smirked, and Baekhyun elbowed him, rolling his eyes. Of course Chanyeol would try to milk it as much as he could. 

“Ouch! Geez, your elbows are so pointy!” 

Baekhyun laughed, then turned back around to face him.

“But you know you love me anyway!”

“Yeah, yeah, I do.”

* * *

The cars pulled to a stop beside a plaza mall for the members to take a break and get something to eat. Baekhyun hopped out of the car and followed the other members inside the warm, heated building, relieved to escape the cold. The group went over to the food court area and settled into a couple of booths, squeezing together. The EXO-M members arrived as well, coming over to sit with them. Baekhyun, still feeling a little uncomfortable, avoided looking in Luhan’s direction. Instead, he busied himself by toying with the fluffy pom poms dangling from the ends of Chanyeol’s wolf hat that Lay had gotten him for his birthday. Luckily, the members soon dispersed to go off and get food. Baekhyun turned to look for Chen, but unfortunately he spotted his friend going off with Xiumin, chatting animatedly with the other as they headed towards a food kiosk further away. Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and dragged him to follow along with the other members who were browsing around. 

Kai peered through a glass case at the racks of pastries and desserts inside with wide eyes.

“I want some of these! Can you buy me some, hyung? Please?”

Suho fished in his pocket and was about to hand him his card, but D.O. stopped him with a severe frown.

“Real food first before sweets,” he admonished, “I told you so many times not to start with desserts. That’s so unhealthy. Don’t listen to him, Suho hyung,” he added as Kai stiffened indignantly with a pout.

D.O. dragged the younger away from the display case while the latter protested vividly. Suho shook his head.

“I thought I was the mother around here!” He looked at the group in confusion.

“No, you’re our old lady grandmother, remember?” Baekhyun grinned, and they all laughed as Suho narrowed his eyes at them.

Suddenly, Lay stopped and pointed to a food outlet further down to their left. 

“That place looks good, they have chinese medicinal herbs there.” He started to make his way over when Suho ran up to him.

“Wait, I’ll go with you,” he linked arms with Lay and waved at the others behind them. “We’ll meet up with you at our seats later.” 

They all nodded, then went off to get their own food.

  
  


A while later, the members had finished eating together and were wandering around the mall area as they waited for their manager and staff to get ready to leave. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O. and Kai stopped at a little coffee shop.

“That snowman looks like you, Channie!” Baekhyun pointed at a winter display on top of the counter. Chanyeol crossed his eyes and scrunched his nose. 

“What about now?” 

“Now you look like that gimpy old elf over there!” Kai pointed to a holiday figurine that was probably left over from Christmas. His gaze suddenly landed on a tray of doughnuts that a shop employee was sliding onto a shelf rack. 

“Hyung, can I have some treats now?” he turned to D.O. , who shrugged. 

“I guess so. But not too many.”

Kai nodded and headed for the register excitedly. The rest of them followed, listening to the hum of the coffee machines and the buzz of chatter from the customers sitting inside. 

“Do you guys want to get anything?” Chanyeol asked, eyeing the options displayed on the screen above. “I kind of want to try the… apple cider with cinnamon? What about you?”

Baekhyun caught sight of the familiar words _French Vanilla Coffee_ and felt a tingle run down his spine as he recalled that Luhan had bought it for him earlier. Did he still want to order it? It _had_ tasted good, he thought, cheeks flushing slightly at the memory. Just as he was about to announce his order, he heard a voice and turned around.

“Oh, hey, you’re all here! We were just looking for you!” Sehun came over, followed by Luhan, both of them wearing matching smiles. They were both sipping bubble tea from colourful straws.

Baekhyun froze, then lowered his head. Luhan was right in front of him, hand in hand with Sehun, his smile still in place, as though nothing had changed since Baekhyun had left him. A thousand thoughts were running through Baekhyun’s mind - _why was Luhan here, why was he with Sehun again, what were they doing together, why was it so hard to look at him with Sehun, why was it so hard to be so close to him -_ when he heard Chanyeol calling his name and looked up to see him waiting expectantly with a concerned expression, drinking from his cup of cider. 

“Hey, are you coming? We’re leaving now.”

Baekhyun nodded and turned to leave, when Chanyeol asked, “Did you still want to order your drink?”

He paused, then bit his lip and shook his head. He didn’t feel like having it anymore.

* * *

Baekhyun shivered as he got out of the car on the side of the street. The members had arrived at their final destination - the downtown shopping district where Tao had begged them to go, saying he needed a new jacket. Kris had agreed, claiming that he needed a new handbag. Since D.O and Kai’s birthdays would be in a couple of days, Baekhyun decided that it was a good opportunity to buy them a present. Other than that, it would be a regular shopping trip for the members to have some fun together. 

As soon as the members grouped together, Baekhyun launched himself at Chen and refused to let go. 

“What’s wrong? Why are you squeezing me like this?” Chen stumbled back a few steps, looking down at his friend curiously.

Baekhyun pulled him away from the group. 

“I have to talk to you. Privately,” he added when Chen still didn’t move. Baekhyun dragged him down the sidewalk around a corner, away from the others before Chen could protest any further. 

✲

“…so then I saw him there with Sehun, and - I don’t know, I just felt horrible. You were right, Dae, I don’t think he likes me after all,” Baekhyun finished despondently, his expression downcast as he finally let go from his death grip on Chen’s arm. “I don’t know what I should do now.”

Chen was still processing all the new information Baekhyun was spewing at him since they had last talked together at the skating rink. He tried to remain calm to reassure his friend. It didn’t help that Baekhyun was looking at him beseechingly with wide eyes.

“Look, Baekhyun, first of all, I’m pretty sure Luhan hyung does like you,” he began carefully, discreetly massaging his arm to get the blood flowing again. It wasn’t really working. Trying to ignore the uncomfortable numb feeling, he focused instead on Baekhyun’s quivering bottom lip. “I think he was just concerned about you. He was trying to be nice because he cares, but you interpreted it in a different way. I think it was just a misunderstanding.”

“But he thinks I’m annoying and that I’m a pest,” Baekhyun sniffed, wiping at his eyes. “He - he said that I’m usually just bothering him to buy me things.” 

Chen pulled him gently over to take a seat on a nearby bench, digging in his pocket for some tissues. His legs were already feeling cold and stiff from sitting still, but he supposed he could deal with it for the sake of his best friend. Pulling out a pack of tissues, Chen kindly wiped the tears from Baekhyun’s face before continuing to reassure him.

“Did he really say that? Are you sure those were his exact words?” he pressed. “And he didn’t seem to be annoyed at you, did he? Think of what he really meant.”

Baekhyun paused, looking up, and took in a shuddering breath.

“He kept asking me if I was alright, if there was anything wrong with me,” he tried to recall, “and then he said something like… I was being less rowdy and more calm. And that I looked upset when Tao and Sehun were begging him to buy drinks and stuff for them, but normally I would have been just like them.” He turned to Chen, his eyes glistening. “But I wasn’t even upset! I was just - you guys were all just taking advantage of him, and - ”

Chen tried his hardest to keep his poker face from slipping as he squeezed Baekhyun’s hand.

“So you _were_ irritated, after all. Okay, I will try not to do that in the future if it makes you uncomfortable. But Luhan hyung wasn’t upset with you, either. What he said was true, right? Normally, with any other member in the same situation, you would have joined in and tried to get them to pay for you. I think all of us would do that, actually. Except for maybe Lay and Suho,” he added as an afterthought. “But it’s all for fun, and we’re very close, so no one gets angry because of that. He didn’t get annoyed with Tao or Sehun, did he? And he buys and shares things with Xiumin hyung all the time too.”

Baekhyun stopped sniffling, smiling a little. 

“Maybe… I guess you’re right. He didn’t get angry at them before. He’s not that type of person.”

Chen felt relieved that his words were finally getting through his friend’s dense brick head. He continued,

“Yeah, he told me a while ago that he isn't a cheap person. He does try to cheer you up whenever you’re upset, doesn’t he? You know none of us like seeing you sad. Luhan hyung was just asking you if you were okay because he was concerned that you didn’t seem as energetic as you normally are.”

When Baekhyun raised his head, Chen couldn’t resist adding, “But unfortunately, he didn't know that it was because you were a completely lovestruck fool who doesn’t know how to act like a normal person around him,” he teased, jumping up to avoid Baekhyun’s arm that had shot out to smack him, “Because you still haven’t told him about your feelings.” 

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, scooping up some snow and advancing forward as Chen quickly backpedaled, raising his hands in surrender. 

“I regret deciding that you were my best friend,” Baekhyun smirked, crossing his arms as Chen squawked indignantly at the snow sliding down the front of his coat, dripping inside his collar. Then he smiled, a real one this time. “But thanks, Dae. I feel much better now.”

“You’re such a drama queen,” Chen huffed, before ducking as Baekhyun scooped some more snow.

But he was grinning as well. “You can talk to me anytime, Baekhyunnie.”

✲

“Does this look okay?” Chen held a dark blue jacket up to his shoulders and turned to face the mirror critically. Baekhyun squinted, then walked in a circle around him before nodding.

“It’s not bad at all. What’s the price? You should get it if it’s reasonable.”

Chen turned to look for the price tag and checked.

“It’s 86 000 won. Not bad, right? It’s good material, too.” He beamed, happy to find something worthwhile after wandering around several stores. 

Baekhyun was busy looking for some presents for D.O. and Kai before browsing for stuff for himself. Chen, on the other hand, had already prepared presents for them a few days ago. 

Baekhyun had already selected a new recipe book and a white mug printed with a cute pattern of penguins for D.O. , and Chen had agreed that D.O. would probably like the gift. For Kai… Baekhyun still had no idea. What did he even like? Well, besides Michael Jackson, dancing and food, Baekhyun amended. He scanned the shelves with seasonal items and found himself drawn towards a rack of winter accessories. His gaze lingered on a pretty grey knitted scarf with a delicate white fringe. He picked it up, feeling the material beneath his fingers. Somehow… it reminded him of Luhan, all soft and warm. He blinked, shaking his head. Where had that thought come from? A fluttery feeling started to take place in his chest, and his cheeks flushed at the feeling.

He moved to put it back, then hesitated… he really wanted to buy it. On a whim, he checked the tag. His eyes widened and a surprised smile made its way to his face as he saw the image of a little deer printed on the front. On closer inspection, there was that same little deer sewn onto the material itself, near a corner of the scarf as well. Without really thinking about it, Baekhyun found himself waiting in line to pay for the scarf at the register. 

Only when they were leaving the store did his mind actually realize what he had done. It was too late to backtrack though. Chen was happily swinging his bag with his new jacket inside, talking excitedly about what he was planning for D.O. and Kai’s birthday party. Baekhyun wasn’t really listening. He was too busy wondering why on Earth he had bought that scarf so impulsively. Was he going to give it to Luhan? He was a little nervous. But then again… as Chen had been hinting all along, maybe it would be a good time and opportunity for him to finally confess his feelings for the little deer.

* * *

“Hey, is it okay if I ask you something?” Luhan asked Lay quietly as they stepped inside yet another store. Xiumin and Suho barrelled inside first, heading over to peruse a rack of leather jackets.

“Sure,” Lay looked at the older carefully. “Is there something wrong?”

“It’s… about one of the members,” Luhan started hesitantly. “I… well, I don’t know if I did something wrong, but he suddenly looked upset when he was talking with me earlier, and I haven’t had a chance to ask about it.”

Lay blinked, then said promptly, “Oh, you mean Baekhyun? I think he’s talking with Chen right now. I think he’ll be okay.”

“How - ? Never mind.” Luhan froze in surprise, then shook his head. Lay’s perceptive ability was really something. Sometimes he thought Lay knew way more about the members than he was letting on.

The corner of Lay’s mouth curved upwards and he looked at Luhan, all amused.

“You’re easy to read, that’s all.” 

Luhan flushed, then looked away in embarrassment. Lay pulled him over to the back of the store and encouraged him to explain what had happened.

“Well, I just feel like Baekhyun didn’t really seem like himself all day. I mean, you know how he’s usually so energetic and cheerful, but when I was skating with him today, it looked like something was bothering him. Sometimes, when I was with the other members, he looked kind of upset. So I asked if he was feeling okay when we were leaving, but he just… suddenly got all sad and stopped talking to me. And I think he’s avoiding me now.”

Lay studied the way the brightness in Luhan’s eyes had suddenly extinguished, and the corners of his mouth were turned slightly downwards.

“To be honest, I only noticed that Baekhyun seemed upset after we got to the plaza. But before that he seemed to be perfectly himself. To me and the rest of the members, I mean.” Lay suddenly got a gleam in his eye and a smirk crawled up his face, “If you observed closely, you’d find that he only acted differently around you.”

“Why? You mean… is there something wrong with me? He never told me anything,” Luhan tilted his head, confused. But Lay had already moved on and turned back to where Suho and Xiumin were holding jackets up to the mirror. 

“You’ll see. Everything will be fine. Just don’t ask Baekhyun about whether he’s okay or not anymore. Just wait for him to tell you himself.” 

Luhan shook his head. He didn’t understand, but Lay didn’t seem willing to share any further. He decided to listen to his friend. Lay was usually right, after all.

Luhan sighed as he unobtrusively exited the store and walked slowly down the street. He already had gifts prepared for D.O. and Kai back in their dorm, and he didn’t feel like looking through racks of clothes anyway. A small crowd of teenage girls started taking pictures and videos of him with their phones, whispering and giggling as they followed him. Distracted by his thoughts, Luhan ignored them. His breath made white puffs in the cold air as he turned a few corners and continued walking. He didn’t really know where he was going, he just wanted to be alone and think for a little while. 

Slowly, as he didn’t pay them any attention, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Luhan was finally alone again. As he passed by a new block of stores, he caught sight of an interesting window display from a tiny little shop near the end of the street. Crossing the road, Luhan approached the store for a closer look. A little bell jingled as he pushed open the door, and he was greeted by a citrusy smell, on top of a faint smoky scent, almost like incense. It was quiet, with only a few customers inside. Luhan walked around slowly, taking in the calm atmosphere that helped him to relax a little. 

He stopped at a selection of winter mittens displayed on a wooden table. He picked up a pair of red woolen mittens. They were thick and warm, and he put them on to try them, marvelling at how cozy and soft they felt. There were two little puppies, which looked like beagles, sewn on with fabric on the back. Luhan immediately thought of Baekhyun, and he smiled unknowingly at the resemblance. The younger would surely love these cute mittens. Luhan decided he could get them for Baekhyun, maybe as an apology for whatever he had done to upset him. With that thought, he went right over to purchase them.

It wasn’t until he stepped out of the store again that the smile slipped off his face. Luhan surveyed both sides of the street before him. He had no idea where he was. He hadn’t realized how far he had walked when he’d separated from the others, and now nothing looked familiar to him. Which direction had he come from? In his haze, he couldn’t remember.

Luhan dug in his pocket for his phone, then froze when his fingers felt empty space.

Where was his phone? Had he left it in the car? He hadn’t looked at it all day, so he couldn’t recall when he’d last seen it. Distracted, he walked further and found himself in a deserted construction area with hardly any stores around. There were only a few people passing by on the streets, and they all seemed pressed to run their errands. He stopped, then sighed.

Of course he would be lost. This day could hardly get any worse.

* * *

“Is it time to go now?” Baekhyun asked Chanyeol, who nodded. 

After his talk with Chen, the two of them had met up with Chanyeol, who had been wandering around with D.O. and Kai. 

“Hey, you said you would buy me something since I was such a good counselor earlier, remember?” Chanyeol had grabbed onto Baekhyun without any indication that he would let go if he didn’t get what he wanted.

“Did I say that? I’m pretty sure it was _you_ who said it, Channie.”

“Please, please, please? You love me, right?” Chanyeol had pouted.

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun had allowed Chanyeol to drag him around and buy him a new hat, as well as some snacks as they followed the others. 

It was getting late in the afternoon, and after hitting one last store, they decided to head home. They met up with the other members, and they all gathered together to wait for everyone to arrive. 

“I just called Suho hyung. They should be here in a few minutes,” D.O. told them. 

Baekhyun waited, huddling into Chanyeol’s side to keep warm. He was really tired and couldn’t wait to get back to take a rest after such a long day. 

Suddenly, loud voices and hurried footsteps were approaching, and all the members turned to see Lay, Xiumin and Suho running over with anxious looks on their faces. 

_Wait, where was -_

“We - we can’t find Luhan hyung! We lost him!” Lay burst out, and the members stared, shocked.

Alarm shot down Baekhyun’s spine.

_What was happening?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please consider leaving a review :)


	3. Dead of Winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luhan has quite the adventure. Baekhyun doesn't want it to happen ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My ideas were completely scrambled! I'm not sure how I even got this written :0 ! Hopefully it's not too bad!

Baekhyun gripped Chanyeol’s arm so tightly that his knuckles were white. 

Luhan was lost? _Missing?_ His head spun. 

“What do you mean, you’ve lost him? He got lost? Where did you last see him?” Sehun demanded, starting forward, his eyes wide in fear, his features stiff with worry. Kai reached out to him to calm him down. It was rare to see the maknae look so upset. 

“We were all together in the store, and then after a few minutes, when we turned around, he was gone.” Suho’s voice shook slightly at the end. Lay squeezed his hand to steady him. “We already searched the streets nearby. We went into every store. He wasn’t there.”

Baekhyun felt his hands trembling. How could Luhan have gone missing? He wasn’t a little child; he would surely find his way back to them, right? He suddenly remembered that none of the camera staff were around and no other staff member had gone with him. Luhan was all alone.

“Have you tried calling him?” Sehun’s voice was strained. Baekhyun could see the rigidness in his posture, and he was fidgeting, an obvious sign of his nerves.

“Yeah, have you called him yet?” Chen piped up, trying to keep his calm. He kept glancing at Baekhyun, as if to check on him. 

“We did - at least seven or eight times. But he never picked up the call,” Suho told them grimly. “We can try again, though.”

“Here, let me try.” D.O. quickly pulled out his phone and dialed Luhan’s number. He put the call on speakerphone. Baekhyun hurried over to his side to get closer, staring at the dots appearing on the screen. The members squeezed around and listened silently.

The call rang multiple times. _The customer you are calling is unavailable at the moment. Please leave a message or try again later._

Then the call went to voicemail.

D.O. turned to the others helplessly with wide eyes before ending the call. _Why wasn’t Luhan answering?_ Baekhyun grabbed his arm.

“Call him again,” he urged. “Please.”

D.O. took in his scared expression and nodded before complying. This time, the call went straight to voicemail.

_“Hi, this is Luhan! I’m sorry, but unfortunately I am unavailable to take this call at the moment. Please leave a message, an -” BEEP BEEP_. The voicemail suddenly cut off. 

No one moved.

“His phone might be shut down or out of battery now,” Xiumin said quietly.

Panic exploded in Baekhyun’s mind. A million thoughts were going off all at once. _How could he have gotten lost? Why wasn’t he picking up his phone? How was he supposed to find him if his phone was dead? What if something had happened to him?_ Dimly, in the back of his mind, he noticed Chanyeol looking at him worriedly and felt the steady pressure of the younger’s hand on his back. 

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Tao asked, his eyes tearing up. 

“Luhan hasn’t been missing long enough for them to take action yet,” Kris told him softly, putting his arm around Tao’s shoulders. Baekhyun’s eyes started to sting as well. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sehun step forward.

“I’m going to go look for him,” he gritted out, his eyes fixed straight ahead. Baekhyun instantly agreed, shifting out of Chanyeol’s hold.

“I’m going, too,” he stated firmly. He was almost proud that his voice didn’t shake. Lay nodded at him, then looked at the group seriously. 

“Someone should call and let our manager hyung know what’s happened. The rest of us, let’s go around and search for Luhan hyung again.”

“I’ll make the call.” D.O. turned and dialed their manager’s number. 

Baekhyun took a deep breath. _Don’t panic,_ he reminded himself. _He couldn’t have gone too far._

_I’ll definitely find him._

* * *

Luhan shivered, pulling his hood tighter around his face. It was starting to get dark already, since the winter daylight didn’t last very long, and the pedestrians he had seen before were long gone. The cold was starting to settle in, and he cursed himself yet again for losing his way so easily. 

Had his sense of direction always been this horrible?

He didn’t remember being this bad with directions before. He had tried to walk around a little more, but none of the areas had seemed familiar. Why couldn’t remember which way he’d come? As if to mock his pitiful state, it started to snow, the snowflakes spiraling down to land in his hair and the fur on his hood, lightly dusting his clothes. Sticking his hands in his pockets, Luhan closed his eyes as he leaned against a street lamp post. What were the other members doing? Had they finally finished shopping? Were they returning home now? He wondered if they’d even realized that he was gone. 

How had he even gotten into this mess in the first place? What had distracted him so much that he didn’t even pay attention to where he was going?

Then he remembered. He had been thinking about Baekhyun. He didn’t admit it out loud, but he had been strangely preoccupied with thinking about Baekhyun the whole time since skating. It had been one of the rare times that Luhan and Baekhyun had been alone together… they didn’t get to see each other that often since they were in different groups. Out of the EXO-K members, Luhan was closest with Sehun, and sometimes with D.O. or Kai. When they were working, Luhan spent the majority of his time with the EXO-M members, and during the times where both groups came and practiced together, he mostly spent his time with Sehun, who had been his friend since their trainee days. 

Baekhyun, being the excitable, cheerful mood-maker, didn’t seem to pay much attention to Luhan, who was more shy and wasn’t very talkative. But Luhan always felt really happy whenever Baekhyun joked with him, or encouraged him with his smile. The younger always made him feel a lot brighter, and was always so cute and bubbly. Whenever Baekhyun smiled at him, it always made Luhan feel special somehow… and there would be a pleasant warm feeling in his chest. Luhan had an aching desire to see Baekhyun smile again at that moment.

Today, especially… Luhan had really liked spending time with Baekhyun when they were skating. He’d been really surprised that Baekhyun had agreed to be partners with him, and had marvelled at how well they had gotten along together. Baekhyun had seemed to be having fun, too… and then Luhan had somehow upset the other unintentionally. 

Luhan was shaken from his thoughts as a strong, freezing gust of wind sent the snowflakes swirling wildly in the air, showering him from above. His teeth started to chatter.

Suddenly, he heard the faint noise of someone crying.

Startled by the sound, Luhan turned around. It sounded like a little child. There was a child nearby! Was the child lost as well? He started forward in that direction, his footsteps soon covered by the falling snow.

As he approached a narrow alleyway, he hesitated, feeling a bit nervous as he peered into the shadows. What if he got mugged or assaulted in such a shady looking place? 

The sound of sniffling from ahead changed his mind, and he took a few steps forward. A mugger wouldn’t be crying all alone, right?

He sure hoped so. He continued forward blindly, his hands pressing against the sides to keep track of his path in the darkness. After he went forward a few metres, the sound of sniffling suddenly stopped.

Luhan froze. 

_Stop freaking out,_ he told himself after a moment. _It’s probably only a child. Whoever it is might be frightened as well. You should try and help them._ Crouching down so he would appear less intimidating, Luhan tried to keep his voice steady and calming.

“Is someone there? Why are you crying? Do you need any help?” There was no answer. Luhan shivered. “It’s okay… I won’t hurt you, I promise,” he tried again, in a softer voice this time.

He waited, his mouth dry with fear, not daring to move, as the possibility of it being an attacker still hadn’t vanished from his mind.

Then suddenly he felt a small body fling against him and a chilly face was pressed against his own cheek. Startled, he immediately wrapped his arms around the child as the sniffling started again.

“Hey, don’t cry. It’s okay, I’ll help you. Are you alone? Did you get lost?” Luhan felt the child nod against his shoulder. “Let’s get back out so we can see better.”

He fumbled around for the child’s hand, holding it tightly, then stood up and carefully felt his way back out of the alleyway to under the streetlamp that he had stood under before. Luckily, the snow had stopped attacking him so aggressively and was now circling lazily in the air. Under the light, he observed that the child was actually a little boy, and looked to be about five or six years old, with teary eyes, red cheeks and a drippy nose. He still looked a little scared. Luhan bent down again and dug in his pocket for some tissues. He smiled gently and started to wipe the little boy’s face. 

“What’s your name?” he asked softly, dabbing the little boy’s eyes.

“Sa - Satoshi,” the boy sniffed.

“Oh, are you Japanese?” Luhan asked, pulling out another tissue.

“My dad is,” the little boy seemed to have calmed down a little, his big eyes now staring at Luhan curiously. “I’m almost six years old!” he added proudly with a big smile, displaying a missing tooth. 

“Wow, that’s cool!” Luhan smiled back. Satoshi’s smile was really cute, and kind of reminded him of Baekhyun… he shook his head. Now was definitely not a good time. He looked around for a trash can to throw away the tissues. Hurrying back to Satoshi’s side, he bent down again next to the little boy, who was looking at him closely, as if trying to remember something.

“My name is Luhan,” he told him. “I’m actually lost too, and I can’t find my friends.”

The little boy perked up.

“I know who you are! You sing and dance on TV! My sister watches you a lot,” he snuggled up to Luhan’s side. Luhan almost laughed. How great. Then he grew serious again.

“Are you looking for your dad or sister?” He asked quietly. Satoshi shook his head.

“No, my grandma and grandpa took me to buy a new backpack for school, and they said I could have a new toy if I listened and didn’t run around. So I finally found a really cool monster truck set, but when I went back to get them, they… they weren’t there anymore.” Satoshi’s eyes were starting to tear up again. “I looked for them for a really long time, but I can’t find them!”

Luhan patted him on the back.

“I don’t think they would be here. This place is really empty, and nobody usually comes here. Maybe you can’t find your grandparents because you keep running around looking for them while they’re also looking for you at the same time. How about we go back to where you last saw them? They might be looking for you there. And if we don’t see them, we can ask somebody nearby to call them.” 

Satoshi nodded, wiping his eyes with his mitten. 

“Do you know where to go?” Luhan asked hopefully. Satoshi could hopefully lead him back to somewhere relatively familiar. He wanted to laugh at himself. So he was so incapable that he had to depend on an almost six-year old child to help him? The other members would definitely laugh at him.

Satoshi nodded again, reaching instinctively for Luhan’s hand. “I think so. I came from that way,” he pointed to the right. Luhan shrugged. He didn’t have any better ideas. They started walking in that direction, the snow continuing to fall softly around them.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the edge of a crosswalk. Luhan squinted. He could just make out the bright cluster of lights and could hear the faint hum of traffic in the distance. He grinned in relief. He could finally soon find his way home again.

* * *

“We already checked those two blocks. He wasn’t there either,” Kai reported urgently. 

Baekhyun gritted his teeth in frustration. They had all split up in pairs to look for Luhan across the shopping district, but the little deer was still nowhere to be found. Baekhyun had run around nonstop, and he was sweating from the exertion and his nerves.The manager and other staff were busy searching as well, but so far, there was no sign of Luhan anywhere. 

Why couldn't he find him? What if he couldn’t _ever_ find him? Baekhyun forced the panic down, trying to take deep breaths. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and turned to see Chen’s worried eyes searching his own. 

“Baekhyun, you need to zip up your coat. You might get sick.” Chen helped him with his zipper and wiped the perspiration from his face. “It’s okay, he’ll turn up soon,” Chen said, almost convincingly. “We’re all looking together.”

Baekhyun gave his hand a quick squeeze in gratitude, and the group continued down the street. Baekhyun’s eyes travelled everywhere - he wanted to be the first to spot Luhan when they found him.

Suddenly, a flash of pale grey and white caught his eye, and he sprinted towards the retreating figure hurrying by on the sidewalk, grabbing them by the arm. 

“Wait, Lu - “ he stopped, his stomach sinking as he caught sight of the person’s face. 

It was an older-aged woman, with wrinkles lining her face and frizzy grey hair, who was looking at him in shock. A scowl started to form on her face, and Baekhyun hastily let go of her and stepped back. Disappointment filled his chest as he bowed and apologized.

“I’m really sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean to scare you. I mistook you for my friend; he’s lost and we’re looking for him. I - I just thought you were wearing similar coats. Sorry again.” He kept his gaze fixed on the ground, expecting the woman to reprimand him. 

“Someone else is also lost in this weather?” The woman’s features softened at his apology and switched to a look of concern and worry. “I’m also looking for my grandson. We lost him near this area earlier… poor child, he’s only five years old… I don’t know what to do.” She shook her head, wiping her eyes. “Hopefully they’ve found someplace indoors to stay. The snow’s getting worse, and most of the stores are closing.”

Baekhyun realized that she was right. It was already dark, and the wind was picking up in intensity, sending snow showering down in sheets. His breathing increased rapidly in fear. 

Luhan could be out freezing, all alone in the dark. He was probably scared and lonely.

“Try to calm down, Baekhyun. I know you’re very worried, but if you’re too anxious or panicked you could get sick,” Lay said quietly, patting him on the back. Baekhyun nodded and took a deep breath before thinking hard.

_Come on, Baekhyun. Use your brain. There must be some way to find him quickly._

“Hey, what are you doing to my grandmother?”

They all turned to see a teenage girl approaching them, pulling an old man behind her. She stood back, trying to make out the group of shadowy figures in the dim light.

“It’s alright,” the old lady said reassuringly, taking her granddaughter's arm. “They’re looking for someone who got lost and they need some help, just like us.”

_That's it!_ Baekhyun knew what to do.

He stepped closer to the girl, taking off his hood, and motioned for the other members to do the same. The girl’s eyes widened, and she put her hands over her mouth in shock.

“EXO?! Oh my goodness, am I dreaming? I can’t believe this!” she muffled her shriek. Her eyes darted around, looking at their faces in amazement. Then she stopped and frowned. “Wait, where’s - ?"

“We lost him,” Baekhyun told her before she could finish asking. “Do you think you could help us?”

It was a good thing they had so many fans.

* * *

“This is where I first saw a really cool fire truck!” Satoshi babbled animatedly, pointing at random stores as they continued to trudge through the thick snow. 

Luhan nodded absently. His teeth were chattering too much for him to respond, anyway. His fingers were completely numb from cold. How long had they been walking anyway? He didn’t think it took this long when he’d wandered around by himself earlier. Or maybe Satoshi had led him from a different way. He had no idea. In any case, none of the stores they had passed were open anymore, so Luhan estimated that it must be a very late hour already. 

It was completely dark, and the snow reflected the glow from the streetlamps as a few lazy flakes tumbled slowly to the ground. Luhan was tired. They had been walking for so long - he didn’t think they would ever find anyone to help them. What kept him going was the package tucked inside his coat - the mittens he had bought for Baekhyun - and Satoshi, who he really wanted to help; whether to find his family, or to send him to the police, whichever. Curiously, he’d heard some voices in the distance calling something, but no matter where they walked, he still hadn’t seen a single soul. 

Satoshi suddenly stopped walking and Luhan almost crashed into a lamp post from the unexpected lack of motion. He turned to the little boy, puzzled.

“This is it,” Satoshi said solemnly, looking at him with big eyes. “This is where I last saw my grandma and grandpa.”

They were standing in front of a toy store in the middle of the block. The store’s lights were shut off, and the shutters were closed. Luhan looked around carefully. The place seemed somewhat familiar but he still couldn’t remember where he’d come from, especially in the darkness. 

Satoshi looked at the ground, pressing against Luhan’s side.

“What if they never find me?” His voice came out in a whisper. Luhan bent down and put his arms around the little boy. He didn’t know what to do, either. He needed to keep Satoshi distracted so he could have a little time to think of how to help him. 

“Hey, why don’t you tell me about the awesome new toys you saw here? I’ve never seen them before,” he attempted in a bright voice. Satoshi’s eyes lit up, and he immediately started to recount his day excitedly. As he talked about every new exciting thing that happened while shopping, his voice got louder and louder and he started bouncing around to mime out the actions. Luhan couldn’t help but smile at the sight. The little boy was a natural storyteller. It was so cute.

Then suddenly there were footsteps approaching, and a voice calling Satoshi’s name, and the little boy stopped, shocked, before running straight into an old lady’s arms. 

“Grandma!” Satoshi hugged the woman tightly, and Luhan sighed in relief. Finally someone had found them! He quickly stood and bowed as the woman looked at him curiously before turning to her grandson.

“Satoshi, you naughty boy! Do you know how worried we were? Your grandfather and sister searched for you with me all night!” she wiped her eyes, keeping her hold around the child. “Why did you run around? You definitely cannot do that ever again, you hear? The only way I found you was because I heard your loud voice talking and I followed the direction of it.” she paused. “But you don’t look the least bit scared, do you?” She laughed in relief. 

“I was scared! I looked for you everywhere! Then I got lost. But then he found me and said to come back so that maybe you could find me again,” Satoshi pointed at Luhan. 

“Thank you so, so much for helping him,” the old lady thanked him. “I don't know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t brought him back here.” Satoshi came over and squeezed him so tightly that his hood fell off.

“You’re really pretty,” he suddenly said, peering into his eyes, and Luhan cracked a smile, a real one. 

“Thanks. I’m glad you’re finally not lost anymore.”

The grandmother’s eyes widened as she saw his face. 

“There were some young men who helped us search… are you lost as well?” she asked. Luhan nodded. “They should be around here, so they’ll find you soon,” she told him. Then she turned back to her grandson. “We really need to let your grandfather and sister know I’ve found you, and then we have to go home.”

The snow was starting to fall faster again. The old lady and Satoshi thanked Luhan once again, then they said goodbye. Luhan smiled as the little boy waved at him. 

A small noise caught his attention and he turned to the side. There was a slight movement a few metres away. The streetlight suddenly flickered to life, which lit up the person’s face.

Luhan’s breath caught as he saw him standing there, staring at him in shock.

* * *

The girl had immediately agreed to help when Baekhyun had asked. She’d posted a notice online about Luhan’s disappearance, and had sent out messages asking whether anyone had seen him around the area.

Instantly, EXO’s fans online were connecting with each other and the news travelled fast.There had been a group of people who had responded, saying they had seen Luhan walk alone towards the west end of the district, and the group had started searching in that direction right away.

“That was a really good idea, Baekhyun,” Chen had told him. Chanyeol had nodded. The two of them each held one of Baekhyun’s hands tightly. 

Baekhyun had been glad that his idea was working. He knew that the fans would be a big help, since he’d seen many of them around that afternoon.The members had searched incessantly along with the girl and her grandparents, keeping an eye out for their lost grandson. They’d followed them as the three circled back to where they’d last remembered being with the child.

“Are you cold?” Chanyeol had asked. Baekhyun had shaken his head. He didn’t feel anything. He just wanted to find Luhan again.

Then they'd heard a voice, high and energetic, coming from the next street over.

The grandmother had begun to rush towards it right away. Baekhyun had followed her out of concern, thinking it could be dangerous if she slipped and fell.

And then he’d seen him. Luhan was there, in front of him, talking with a little boy, and Baekhyun had frozen and watched as the grandmother ran towards the little boy, relieved that she’d found him. So Luhan had helped the little boy and they’d been together the whole time? He was so relieved, he could hardly believe it. It was then that Baekhyun could see the way Luhan was hunched over from the cold, the way his legs seemed to be shaking. The child hugged Luhan tightly before waving goodbye.

_Go. He’s right in front of you._

Without another thought, Baekhyun had propelled forward, straight towards his quarry.

* * *

Without warning, Baekhyun ran towards him, throwing his arms around him. Surprised, Luhan felt the impact of his body barrelling right into him, and almost stumbled back from the force. He could feel Baekhyun trembling even through his coat. Had he been looking for him this whole time? Luhan tried, but couldn’t speak. Why couldn’t his teeth stop chattering? He dimly registered the sound of the other members arriving and could hear their voices as they asked questions, but all he could focus on was the feeling of Baekhyun’s arms gripping him so tightly as though he wouldn’t ever let go. Luhan was too numb and stiff to respond, anyway. They separated briefly when Sehun picked him up and carried him all the way back to their car, but then Baekhyun latched onto him again and insisted on sitting next to him for the ride. No one objected.

In the dim space inside the car, Luhan started to relax as the cold gradually began to wear off. Pressed against his side, Baekhyun was a warm source of heat, although Luhan was worried that the younger still hadn’t stopped shaking since he’d first found him. He shifted slightly to face him, then inhaled sharply as Baekhyun’s grip around him tightened, stopping him from moving.

“You - you’re not allowed to do that ever again,” Baekhyun’s voice shook quietly in his ear. Luhan suddenly felt a wave of guilt as he noticed the way Baekhyun’s wide eyes were glistening and the way his mouth was pressed firmly in a straight line to keep from trembling. He must have really made Baekhyun worried. 

“I’m sorry,” Luhan whispered back hoarsely as soon he got his voice working again. “I’m really sorry,” he repeated.

_Not only for making you worry, but also for upsetting you this morning._ He hoped that Baekhyun would understand what he meant.

Baekhyun squeezed him even tighter in response.

* * *

Back at their dorm, D.O. immediately ordered Luhan and Baekhyun to take a hot shower before anything else. It wasn’t until the hot water was running down his back that the adrenaline finally faded and Baekhyun realized just how exhausted and drained he was. The water soothed his aches as they floated away with the steam and chased away the cold.

When he stepped out of the bathroom a while later, drying his hair, he saw Luhan sitting on the couch, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, propped against a cushion. D.O. was making him drink some chamomile tea to help him relax. Baekhyun felt his mouth curve upwards. Luhan looked so cute being pampered like a little child. D.O. motioned for Baekhyun to head for the kitchen to drink some tea as well. When he returned, Kai and D.O. were debating over what to watch on the TV.

“Baekhyun-ah, could you please turn off the lights?” Luhan asked quietly. 

Baekhyun complied, flicking off the switch before turning around. Luhan patted the spot next to him on the couch, looking at Baekhyun with a soft smile. Baekhyun felt his heartbeat quicken as he beamed back and settled beside him, close enough that their sides were touching.

“Here, are you cold?” Luhan spread his blanket so that it covered both of them, tucking it around them and forcing Baekhyun to squeeze even closer, so that Baekhyun could feel the older boy’s warmth through his sweatshirt. Luhan was all yawning and sleepy and adorable, and didn’t seem to mind how there was practically no space between them at all. It didn’t help that he smelled faintly like peaches. Baekhyun’s face instantly got warm, and he was glad that it was dark enough to go unnoticed. 

“But I really want to watch this new horror movie! It’s supposed to be really good! Please!" Kai’s voice cut into his thoughts.

“I told you already, you’ll be too freaked out to sleep after if we do that. I am not in the mood to be kept awake all night by your crying. Besides, Luhan hyung is supposed to relax,” D.O. elbowed him, shaking his head. Kai looked indignant, his cheeks colouring pink.

“That’s not true! I never cried in your bed all night!” 

Baekhyun laughed out loud.

“Are you sure about that? You’ve done the same thing to me multiple times before,” he put in, just to hear Kai’s horrified squawking. Luhan turned to him with an amused grin, and Baekhyun ruffled his hair before continuing with a wicked smile, “In the middle of the night you’d come into my room sniffling, and then crawl - ” 

“N - no, I didn’t!” Kai shook his head violently, his hands over his ears. He shot Baekhyun a murderous look. At D.O. ‘s deadpan stare, he gave up, clicking on a different movie. “Fine, then can we watch this one?”

D.O. snatched the remote away from him.

“Didn’t I just tell you? Luhan hyung is supposed to relax. Action movies aren’t going to help. Let’s watch a drama instead.”

Kai had a suspicion that D.O. had been wanting to see that drama all along in the first place. He pouted, but then scooted closer to D.O. without complaining.

Baekhyun heard Luhan giggling at the pair and snuggled against his chest contentedly. 

✲

Baekhyun woke to a slight noise coming from the door. The TV drama was now turned off, and D.O. and Kai had presumably gone off to bed already. A dim light was left on from behind, casting a soft glow into the otherwise dark room. He blinked sleepily. Luhan was lying half across his lap, a delicate, cuddly light weight against his side, and Baekhyun seemed to have buried his fingers in Luhan’s fluffy hair sometime near the end of the seventh episode. A soft strand of his hair tickled Baekhyun’s cheek. 

There was another creaking noise, and Baekhyun looked over to see Chen lingering by the hallway alone, watching them with a pleased and relaxed expression.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asked quietly, so as to not wake Luhan as well. Baekhyun shook his head, shifting to a sitting position carefully, trying not to move Luhan too much. He could just barely make out Chen’s face in the dark.

“It’s okay. It’s really late anyway.” He realized belatedly that he was stroking Luhan’s hair and the side of his cheek, tracing his features and the curve of his jaw with his fingertips. Luhan was soft and relaxed propped against him, all trusting and unguarded and comfortably warm.

Chen moved a little closer, so that Baekhyun could see him more clearly. Baekhyun suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"Were you taking pictures?" he asked suspiciously, zeroing in on the phone in Chen's hand.

"What? I - I mean, no, I wasn't," Chen hemmed nervously, quickly whipping his phone behind his back in an attempt to hide it from view.

"Hmm." Baekhyun decided to let him off this one time. He didn't want to get up and move away from Luhan anyway. Then his friend spoke up again.

“Hey, Baekhyunnie,” Chen said, his voice unnaturally serious so that Baekhyun glanced over at him, “I’m really glad that you two are getting closer. But… if you want Luhan hyung to understand your feelings, you can’t keep going on like this. You have to let him know.” 

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun furrowed his brow and averted his gaze, unconsciously continuing to gently touch Luhan’s hair and face.

“I mean to make it clear, Baekhyunnie.” Chen responded quietly, looking at him fixedly. The shadows blended in from behind him, catching in his hair and obscuring his expression. “Luhan hyung doesn’t know you as well as I do, so he can’t tell what you mean when you act differently around him. That’s probably why he asked you about it this morning. I know how much it bothered you when he misunderstood. And I know how scared you were when you thought you lost him. You’re also scared that he doesn’t feel the same way as you do.” Chen paused, studying Baekhyun’s face intently. “All of us are close in M, and I know that Luhan hyung really wants to be good friends with everyone. Luhan hyung doesn’t want to ruin anything between you two, like your friendship. When you were upset about what he said to you this afternoon, you didn’t realize how unfocused and sad he looked the whole time. That’s probably how he got lost as well. He didn’t know why you suddenly started avoiding him and felt really bad.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun bit his lip. He didn’t know what to say.

He looked down at Luhan's form lying still on his lap. He could see Luhan’s chest move slightly each time as he breathed. 

“I think he still feels guilty about it even now. If you really want to know his feelings for you, you have to spell it out,” Chen told him gently. “Only then you can get your answer.” He turned to leave. “And if you ever need help, you know that we’re all here for you,” he added with a little smile as he stepped back into the dark hallway. His footsteps gradually faded away.

Baekhyun swallowed, conflicted. He didn’t move, lost in his thoughts as he stared at the shadows flickering on the wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> . . .yeah, it's kind of a mess. I'll try to make the next chapter better! School is starting again for me soon so I'm a little nervous. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed, even though it's not too great. Please consider leaving a review :)


	4. Cold Sweat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Luhan's horrible (or incredible) luck, he and Baekhyun are alone at home... what could possibly happen?  
> When Baekhyun does something unexpected, will things be okay, or will they end up in disaster?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a long time! School has been totally crazy and I'm really trying to find some inspiration to write :0 ! This chapter kind of dragged on really long... I hope you enjoy it!

Because Luhan’s luck had apparently gone on vacation, he woke up the next morning with a cold. It wasn’t surprising, since he caught colds fairly easily, but he’d been hoping to enjoy their break from work without having to be accompanied by a box of tissues and cough drops everywhere he went. 

His eyes throbbed as he blinked them open to stare at the white ceiling and walls of his room. Lay must have brought him there last night, he decided, since he had zero memory of going to bed himself. Luhan turned to the side. His roommate’s bed was already unoccupied and neatly made. He sighed. He remembered Chen telling everyone the night before that he’d planned for them to go sledding and visit an outdoor winter festival that day. He hoped that he would be able to join them despite being sick. With great effort, Luhan crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. 

The fact that his eyebrows shot up at the sight of his own reflection in the mirror was a testament to just how ghastly he looked and felt at the moment. His skin looked pale and haggard, as though he’d aged ten years and rarely went outside (or never left his house, period), with circles under his eyes dark enough to rival Tao’s. His hair stuck up at odd angles. Luhan felt an unusual urging desire to drown himself in the nearest bathtub behind him. 

“Woah, you look terrible,” Xiumin announced as he stuck his head in through the doorway. His eyes were bigger than golf balls as he took in Luhan’s dishevelled appearance. “You look like you’ve been run over flat by a bulldozer.” It was unclear whether his tone was viciously delighted or just higher than usual from the shock.

Luhan whipped around and tried to glare at him, but ended up grabbing tightly at the counter from a sudden rush of dizziness. He decided to give up and make do with just imagining himself kicking Xiumin in the rear instead.

“Here, let me go see if I have any stuff to make you look a bit better and less sick. There should be a cream or lotion or something I used last time.” Xiumin went back to his own room for a minute before returning with a little box that he set in front of Luhan, who blinked at him in confusion.

“This is a moisturizer so that you don’t look dry and sickly. And this is a cooling eye cream to make your eyes less puffy,” Xiumin explained, taking out two small containers and pressing them into Luhan’s slack fingers. “I also have eye drops to reduce irritation. I can help you with it after you wash your face.” 

Luhan changed his mind. Xiumin was pretty nice after all.

After splashing his face with cold water and managing to tame his hair into something that resembled less like an angry overgrown cactus (sadly, he now needed to replace his comb), Luhan allowed Xiumin to fuss over him until he somehow looked slightly less depressing than a little while ago. 

He managed to throw on a change of clothes before stumbling down the hall with Xiumin’s help to the kitchen where the other members were all gathered. Luhan gripped the wall to steady himself. His head felt fuzzy, like it was stuffed with wool, and his limbs were sluggish.

“Did you catch a cold again, Luhan hyung?” A hand touched him lightly on the arm. Luhan forced his gaze to focus on D.O.‘s face, whose wide eyes were looking at him in concern. Sehun was right behind him, reaching out to take Luhan’s hand.

“Ye - Yes, I did,” Luhan croaked out hoarsely. His voice cracked and sounded raspy from a long time without use, similar to the sound of a rusty gate. He cringed inwardly.

D.O.’s eyes widened even further, if possible. 

“I’ll go make you something warm to drink for your voice,” D.O. hurried over to the kettle while Sehun quickly helped Luhan over to a vacant seat, pressing him down by the shoulders. 

“I’m going to go find the cold medicine,” Sehun scrunched his nose, looking down at Luhan in fond exasperation. “Why do you get sick so easily? I always end up having to take care of you.” Then he bent down and said in his ear, “Don’t worry, Hannie, I’ll make you all better.” He grinned widely.

In a fit of pettiness, Luhan elbowed him in the abdomen (he totally deserved it), then turned to find Baekhyun’s eyes trained on him from his seat right next to him. He didn’t look much better than Luhan himself, almost completely slouched over the table, his hair sticking up artfully in messy tufts. 

“Are you tired?” Luhan whispered to him. Baekhyun nodded slowly, his eyes still glued to Luhan’s face. Luhan noticed that his cheeks seemed a bit flushed. Luhan felt a warm rush in his chest and his stomach started to feel jittery. 

He looked away, then scanned the room. Something was off, he thought. Something felt different.

* * *

Baekhyun had woken up that morning to a pounding headache. 

_What a great way to start the second day of our break,_ he’d thought, burrowing back into his covers. He hadn’t ended up getting much sleep after talking with Chen last night. 

Unfortunately for him, a large, heavy weight had jumped on top of him, knocking the breath out of his lungs. At Baekhyun’s startled cry, Chanyeol’s laughter had made his ears ring as the taller wriggled around on top of Baekhyun like a giant worm.

“You wicked little - ” Baekhyun had pulled the covers off his head, giving Chanyeol a death glare. His vision blurred and his anger dissipated halfway.

“You didn’t come to bed with me last night,” Chanyeol had pouted, crossing his arms. He’d grabbed Baekhyun’s arms and towed him out of his bed. “So you have to play with me today when we go sledding today!” He’d pushed Baekhyun out the door to the kitchen area.

Sehun and Kai, who had been talking quietly to each other, had fallen silent and eyed him cautiously when he’d sagged ungracefully across the table, too exhausted to get back at Chanyeol. 

Baekhyun had heard them whispering back and forth while stealing looks at him, as though they were afraid that he would hear what they were saying. The effect had been lost when Chen came flouncing in with Xiumin, both of them wearing giant grins.

“Are you guys ready to go out?” Chen had asked, wriggling excitedly in his seat. Xiumin nodded, his wide eyes riveted on Chen’s figure. Baekhyun could almost imagine a squirrel tail waving behind him.

“I am! I am!” Chanyeol had bounced energetically in his seat, turning to Baekhyun excitedly. When Baekhyun hadn’t reacted, he’d stopped, deflating as he looked at his friend’s flat expression. “Aren’t you excited too? You promised to play with me, remember?”

Everyone around the table had stopped and turned to him as well. D.O. had poked his head out from his spot by the stove, concerned at the unexpected silence. Tao had choked on a sip of his coffee.

Baekhyun had closed his eyes. His headache had intensified and he did not want to even think about going outside… he’d started shivering. Was it just him, or had someone with a trigger finger cranked down the thermostat? He’d noticed Lay eyeing him contemplatively from across the table.

“Hey, where’s Luhan hyung? He’s still not here,” Sehun had remarked, glancing at the clock on the wall and then the doorway. Chen had followed his gaze, relieved that the awkward moment was over.

“You’re right. It’s kind of late. I’ll go get him,” Xiumin had hopped up from his seat, squeezing Chen’s hand before exiting down the hall.

The clock had ticked loudly. Baekhyun had felt nauseous. The long silence had seemed to be too much for Chanyeol, who fidgeted tensely.

“Did I do something? I’m sorry,” Chanyeol had said quietly, looking at Baekhyun with a downcast expression. Baekhyun had felt horrible. He didn’t want Chanyeol to be upset.

“No, it’s not you… I just… ugh.” His face felt hot, making his eyelids feel heavy and sticky, almost.

And at that moment, Luhan had arrived, being dragged in by Xiumin. Baekhyun had been momentarily taken aback by how pale and frail he looked, almost toppling over as Xiumin had moved away from his side. Luhan’s voice had sounded like rusty hinges when he’d spoken. He was definitely sick. And then he’d sat down right next to Baekhyun, so close, almost like yesterday night.

* * *

Luhan’s eyes landed back on Baekhyun. It was unnaturally quiet in the kitchen that morning, he noted. No one was really speaking. It was because strangely, Baekhyun wasn’t flitting about, chattering energetically as usual. The others seemed to have noticed this as well, since even Chanyeol and Chen were keeping silently to themselves. Without Baekhyun’s incessant joking and cheeriness, the mood that morning seemed to be almost too quiet and a little dull. 

“Hey, are you still okay to go out with us?” Tao asked. Luhan nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m used to it, and it’s not as bad this time. You know I get better really fast.”

D.O. returned to Luhan’s side with some honey and lemon tea.

“I’m going to have to get you to have more vitamin C in your diet from now on,” he muttered as Luhan sipped the drink appreciatively. 

“It’s okay,” Luhan cleared his throat. “I’ll be a lot better after I take the medication.” He smiled at D.O. in gratitude. 

Sehun arrived right at that moment with the cold medicine. He gave Luhan a pill and a glass of water. Next to him, Baekhyun suddenly coughed, then buried his head in his arms. Luhan and D.O. glanced at each other. 

Luhan remembered how Baekhyun had reacted the day before when he’d asked him whether something was wrong. He also remembered Lay’s advice. Feeling nervous, he chose to gently rub the younger’s back in a comforting gesture instead of questioning him again on whether he was feeling alright.

Baekhyun made a strangled noise. Luhan frowned. Was he shivering? Something had to be wrong.

* * *

Baekhyun’s headache had worsened from the _"my skull is being squeezed to death and there’s a hole being drilled through my scalp”_ level of pain to the _"my brain is frying and my body is on fire and I actually think I’m going to die”_ stage. He was burning yet shivering at the same time, and he could hardly believe that he was still able to sit upright. Well, technically he was mostly leaning on Luhan, but still.

Baekhyun was starting to panic over the fact that he may actually be seriously ill and was probably going to miss out on their excursion, but all he could do was stare at the wall in front of him and apologize silently to Chen, wondering if his best friend was going to murder him now for ruining his plans.

He was startled out of his thoughts by Luhan’s voice right next to him.

“You’re really warm,” Luhan’s face was only a few inches away from his own, close enough for Baekhyun to see the look of concern reflecting in his eyes and the slant of his mouth as he moved even closer.

He placed a cool, dry hand against Baekhyun’s forehead, fingertips gentle against his closed eyelids and his hair. Baekhyun leaned unconsciously into his touch, almost sighing as he relaxed, just a little bit. 

“Are you feeling sick?” Luhan allowed the younger to settle against his side as he let his fingers trail down his temple, down the bridge of his nose to brush his cheek. 

Baekhyun suppressed a shiver and nodded slowly.

“I think I have a fever,” he managed to whisper, resting his head in the crook between Luhan’s neck and shoulder. The room was spinning and he could hardly keep his eyes open any longer.

The other members crowded around, wondering what to do. Lay shook his head, crouching down to feel Baekhyun’s forehead as well.

“I knew something like this might happen after yesterday night,” he grimaced, shaking his head. “Your emotions were running way too high. You were stressed and anxious enough to raise your body temperature high, and you even ran around without zipping your coat. These are all reasons why you would get sick.” Lay turned to the others. “We should put him to bed and take his temperature. I don’t think it’s a good idea to let him go out today.”

Suho and Kai moved him away from Luhan’s side and took him to his bedroom, tucking him under the covers. The others followed, and D.O. took his temperature. 

From the look on D.O. ‘s face, they could tell that it was not good news. 

“There’s no way you can go out today,” Lay stated firmly.

Baekhyun cracked open his eyelids, searching for Chen.

“I’m sorry, Dae. I didn’t mean - ”

“It’s okay, Baekhyunnie. It’s not your fault,” Chen reached over to squeeze his hand. “Just focus on getting better, okay?”

Baekhyun’s gaze turned to Chanyeol.

“Sorry I can’t play with you, Channie.” He could see Chanyeol looking disappointed and a little guilty, but then his friend smiled reassuringly and shrugged.

“You’ll just have to make it up to me some other time.” He and Chen looked at each other. “I really wanted to go, though,” he muttered, staring at the ground. Chen looked downcast as well.

Then Luhan spoke up. 

“You guys can still go. I can stay and take care of Baekhyun.” He glanced at the others, who had doubtful expressions. “I’m kind of sick, so I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it if I go. It’ll be quieter without all of you here anyway. You guys can go and have fun and we’ll stay here and rest. And you can call regularly to check in.”

Baekhyun strained to hear what they were saying, but it was getting hard to stay awake. 

Sehun started to protest, “But you - ”

“ - I think it could work,” Chen cut in, looking at Luhan thoughtfully. “You seem to be well enough. We’ll call you every once in a while. D.O. and Lay can tell you what to do. If there’s any problem, you can call our manager hyung. You guys still want to go out, right?” He looked around the group. 

The other members exchanged looks, and seemed to reach an accord.

“The festival ends today,” Kai voiced out. “It’s the last chance to go. We’ll try to come back early, though.” Kris and Tao signaled their agreement.

They all turned back to Luhan, who nodded emphatically.

“I’ll make a list for you,” Lay started, heading towards the door. 

That was the last phrase Baekhyun heard, as he was already falling asleep. 

✲

When Baekhyun woke an undetermined while later, he noticed through his haze that the room was quiet. When he focused, he could see the members hanging around silently, sitting on Chanyeol’s bed. Snow was falling outside the window, beating against the glass rhythmically. He shifted to huddle tighter. He felt even worse, and he was still cold. Chen hurried over to his side immediately when he noticed that he was awake.

“Here, drink some water.” He held out a glass. Baekhyun compliantly swallowed a few gulps, looking at him in confusion. “How are you feeling?”

“Lovely,” Baekhyun croaked out sarcastically. He coughed. “Terrible and disgusting, actually. Why haven’t you left yet? Aren’t you leaving?” Baekhyun glanced around the room, then whipped back to Chen, immediately anxious.

“Where’s Luhan hyung?”

“He went out to buy medicine for you.”

_"What?"_ Baekhyun sat up, staring at Chen in alarm. Chen touched his arm to calm him down.

“Don’t worry. Sehun and Chanyeol went with him.”

_Oh_. Relieved, Baekhyun lay down again, trembling under the covers. 

“Are you cold?” Chen stood up. “I’ll go get you some heat packs.” 

When Chen tucked him in again, the heat packs in his covers toasty warm, Baekhyun dutifully closed his eyes and drifted off again.

✲

This time when he woke, he noticed a bowl of chicken soup waiting for him on the table next to him. He could tell it was still hot from the steam rising on top, and he could expect it to taste like a hint of lemon and a sprinkle of black pepper, just like how Luhan always made it whenever a member (and D.O.) was sick. 

Just then, the door opened a crack and Luhan himself peeked in, before entering and approaching his bedside table.

“The others already left,” he told Baekhyun, setting down a glass of water and some medicine. “Do you feel any better?” He searched Baekhyun’s face closely.

Baekhyun shot up, grabbing his arm, and looked him up and down, ignoring his question.

“You weren’t supposed to do that,” he snapped, tightening his grasp, “You promised not to.” _You weren’t supposed to leave outside without telling me ever again._

Luhan blinked before lowering his head, contrite.

“Sorry,” he said softly. “But I really wanted to make sure to get you the right medication.” He shifted from side to side. “And I asked Sehun and Chanyeol to come with me, so I wasn’t alone.” His voice grew smaller at the end.

“You’re sick too, and it’s snowing outside.” Baekhyun exhaled, then released Luhan’s arm. He supposed he couldn’t stay angry when Luhan looked so apologetic. He motioned for the other boy to sit in the space on the edge of the bed. Luhan propped up his pillow so he could lean against it. Baekhyun reached out to take his hand again, pulling the other nearer, waiting for his answer.

“I… won’t do it again,” Luhan looked up at him from underneath his eyelashes, biting his lip. Baekhyun swallowed audibly at the sight, trying to keep his eyes from straying to Luhan’s mouth.

As Luhan bent even closer to arrange the covers across his lap, his fluffy hair brushed slightly against Baekhyun’s chin. Then he looked up, meeting Baekhyun’s gaze, and smiled that familiar, warm, smile right at him. Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he stared back.

His heartbeat quickened and echoed loudly in his ears. 

* * *

Luhan handed the glass of water to Baekhyun for the younger to drink. Baekhyun wrinkled his nose in distaste but obediently drained the glass and set it back on the table, then turned to smile at Luhan directly.

“Thanks for doing this, Luhan hyung,” he said sincerely, eyes riveted on Luhan’s face. 

Luhan found himself smiling back, his stomach unexpectedly doing a flip. 

“Well, someone has to take care of you. I can’t just leave you to suffer here alone,” he replied after a moment. He’d managed to get Baekhyun to finish the soup and take the acetaminophen fever medication, and hopefully his fever would go down soon. He was already feeling a lot better himself after taking the cold medicine and decongestant, so he was well enough to run up and about. 

He stood up and was about to take the glass and bowl back to the kitchen to let Baekhyun get some rest, but stopped when he felt a hand grab his wrist. He turned around, surprised. 

“W - wait. Could you stay with me? Please?” Baekhyun’s eyes were fixed on the bed sheets, his cheeks flaming rosy red. As Luhan hesitated, Baekhyun’s ears burned and he let go of his wrist, keeping his gaze averted. “I… it’s - never mind,” his voice dropped to barely above a whisper.

Luhan felt his chest constrict as he looked at Baekhyun’s crestfallen expression, similar to that of a kicked puppy. He didn’t like it at all. He had to make the other smile again.

“Okay,” he agreed, stepping back toward the bed, and was more than glad to see Baekhyun’s head whip up, startled, before he beamed widely, his arms outstretched to him. 

Luhan felt Baekhyun’s arms wrap around his neck, the younger’s warm cheek pressed against his own as Baekhyun snuggled against him contentedly. He froze, stunned at the sudden display of affection. This was new… Baekhyun had never really initiated contact with him in _this_ way before. He was suddenly aware of how Baekhyun’s hands had made their way down his back to circle around his waist, and how he smelled faintly citrusy, with a hint of spice, like pine, maybe. Without really knowing why, Luhan’s face suddenly felt very hot, and his stomach was doing somersaults, making it hard to breathe. 

_What was wrong with him?_ he wondered. All he knew was that it was the strangest feeling and he wanted to draw back, but he couldn’t really do so when he was still enveloped in Baekhyun’s embrace, and the younger was already on the verge of falling asleep again. He lay still, his heart hammering in his chest, until he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Baekhyun-ah?” he whispered. 

The younger’s eyes flitted open and he blinked sleepily at Luhan with a slight fond smile.

“What is it, Luhan hyung?”

“Um, my arm… it’s, um, getting numb,” Luhan stammered, his face pink with embarrassment.

“Oh. Sorry about that.” Baekhyun turned and lifted his head from where he had been using Luhan’s arm as a pillow. Luhan took this as an opportunity to sit up and take a deep breath. He was about to quickly make up an excuse to leave the room (to collect his wits), but was stopped abruptly by Baekhyun, who had moved himself forward to settle in Luhan’s lap instead. 

What. _What was happening?!_

Luhan sat still for a moment, holding his breath. _Baekhyun must be doing this because he’s sick_ , he tried to tell himself to stop the jitters in his stomach. He’d gotten Luhan confused with someone else; Chen or Chanyeol, maybe. His mind wasn’t clear; he could have easily mistaken him to be someone different. Luhan had never taken care of Baekhyun when he was ill before. He supposed this was just how he acted whenever he was sick. _He was only clingy and affectionate with me because he didn’t want to be alone_ , Luhan convinced himself. His stomach felt heavy, like lead.

If so… it couldn’t hurt to stay with him like this a little longer, right? 

Hesitantly, Luhan brought his hands to Baekhyun’s head in his lap and began to stroke his hair gently with his fingertips, smoothing away the creases on his forehead, feeling the silky strands brush against his fingers. Baekhyun’s features relaxed, and he shifted to lean into his touch, a faint smile tracing the corner of his mouth.

_This is okay,_ Luhan told himself. _This is normal. Isn’t it?_

* * *

Chanyeol whooped as their sled hit a bump, causing them to be airborne for a brief second before plummeting straight into a big pile of snow. Chanyeol rolled over, laughing at the sight of D.O. practically completely buried in the snow, a powdery white lump a few feet away.

“That was awesome!” he yelled, jumping up excitedly to his feet. “Let’s do it again!”

“Yeah, I agree! This time I get to be in front!” Kai agreed, dragging the sled out from the snow.

D.O. sat up, rubbing his head and swiping snow off of his jacket in irritation.

“Well, I’m not joining you.” He stood and started towards the rest area, where several of the other members were hanging around. 

“Wait, don't go!” Kai dropped the rope on the sled and hurried over to follow him, running in front of the smaller boy. “Why are you leaving?”

“This was the twenty-sixth time we’ve gone down this same hill,” D.O. informed him pointedly. “I’m not interested in going again.” Then he headed off to join Suho, Lay, Sehun and Xiumin by the benches. Suho motioned for D.O. to squish between him and Lay, and gave him a little squeeze. 

Chanyeol walked over to see Kai frowning at them and elbowed him with a grin.

“Don’t be jealous, Kai, you can still sled with me!”

Kai turned to him, scrunching his face skeptically.

“No, thanks. Maybe later. I’m going over to them.” He waved to Chanyeol before hurrying over to the group. 

Chanyeol sighed, debating whether to join them or to start up the hill again all alone. It was at times like this that he really missed having Baekhyun with him. His best friend was the one person who could match his energy level perfectly. 

_Baekhyun would have accompanied me down the hill a hundred times_ , he thought glumly. He wondered how Baekhyun was doing. A shout from above caught his attention, and he looked up to see Tao and Kris barreling down the hill, plowing through the snow in a tangle of limbs, their sled completely flipped over. Tao shook himself off, flinging snow from his hat, then went over to drag Kris up as well.

“That was all your fault,” Kris told him with a pinched expression, dusting himself off. “You just _had_ to steer us toward that bump at the end.”

Tao scowled and turned away from him.

“Well, the only reason we flipped was because you were grabbing onto me and wouldn’t let go! How was I supposed to steer then?” he huffed. 

Chanyeol smirked and began to make his way over to them when suddenly another sled rocketed right by him, the passenger on it tumbling out in a heap as the sled flipped out underneath him.

From the sound of the voice, Chanyeol guessed that it was Chen.

Xiumin ran immediately over to Chen’s side, flipping him over to scan his face.

“Are you okay?” he asked quickly. Chen smiled, allowing Xiumin to pull him up. The others followed, gathering around.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.” Chen squeezed his hand in gratitude. “I think I’ve had enough of sledding,” he laughed. “We’ve been here for a few hours already. Do you guys want to go to the festival now?”

“Wait,” Sehun stepped forward. “Shouldn’t we give Luhan hyung a call? We should find out how he and Baekhyun are doing.”

“Right, let me do that,” Chen unzipped and fished in his pocket for his phone, then dialed.

“I want to speak with Luhan hyung,” Sehun moved closer to Chen.

“Me, too! I want to talk to Baekhyun!” Chanyeol joined in. Chen motioned for him to calm down.

“Only if he’s not sleeping,” he said, then pressed his phone against his ear as the call went through.

* * *

Baekhyun woke to the comfortable sensation of fingers running gently through his hair. He kept still, enjoying the pleasant feeling for a few moments longer before opening his eyes to find himself still lying in Luhan’s lap. 

Had Luhan stayed here the whole time with him? His chest fluttered at the thought. 

Luhan smiled at him when he noticed he was awake. The afternoon sunlight spilled in from the window, illuminating his face, chasing away the shadows beneath his eyes and the pallor of his skin, making him look more alive and warm.

“Do you feel better now?” he asked. “I should go get you some more water.”

Baekhyun nodded, loving the way Luhan continued to card his fingers through his hair, stroking him with a feathery light touch. 

“I think so,” he coughed. His throat burned painfully. “But my throat’s really sore.”

Luhan was about to answer, when his phone on the bedside table started vibrating with a call. 

“That must be Chen,” he said, accepting the call. Baekhyun grinned in satisfaction. At least his best friend had the decency to check in on him. 

“Yes, he’s doing okay,” Luhan spoke into his phone. “He took the medication about two and a half hours ago. Yes, he’s awake now,” he glanced down at Baekhyun with a warm smile. “Do you want to speak with him?” He handed his phone to Baekhyun, who put it to his ear.

“Hi, Dae,” he said quietly, suppressing a cough. 

“How are you, Baek? We’re just about to leave from sledding,” Chen’s voice crackled through the phone. There were muffled voices coming from the other end. Then, “D.O. wants to know if you’ve been drinking enough water,” Chen reported. Baekhyun laughed quietly.

“Yeah, I have,” he replied, then sneaked a peek up at Luhan. “You guys are all so heartless. You didn’t even ask if Luhan hyung was okay!” He paused. “Why do I hear Chanyeol yelling?”

“Wait - you’re right! Oh my gosh! You’ve been alone his whole time with Luhan hyung,” Chen’s voice lowered alarmingly, skipping past Baekhyn’s question. “Did anything, you know, _exciting_ happen yet?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, exasperated. Chen’s obsessive interest for things that weren’t his business was the worst at that moment.

“What do you expect me to do when I’m sick?” he hissed, hoping that Luhan hadn’t heard Chen’s (annoyingly loud) voice. “I’m literally dying, and you're still lecturing me on _that_.”

“Don’t forget what I told you last night,” Chen persisted. He seemed to be saying something to a member on the other side from the crackling that followed. “This is the perfect opportunity with the two of you alone! And he’ll be paying you lots of attention already because you’re sick. You know, if you don’t make your feelings clear, someone else might take your place before you know it. Just take this as a little reminder.” _Sure_. “Give the phone back to Luhan hyung.”

“Okay, whatever. I’ll figure it out. See ya,” Baekhyun passed the phone back to Luhan, who looked at him curiously before putting it to his ear.

“Hi, Che - oh, Sehunnie?” 

Baekhyun looked up as Luhan’s voice took on a surprised and pleased tone at the name. He had suddenly retracted his hand and stopped stroking Baekhyun’s hair. Luhan shifted away from Baekhyun to stand up and stretch. 

“Yes, I’m good, don’t worry… Did you really?” A pause. “Oh wow, I wish I could have seen that! What did he say, then?” Luhan moved a few steps further away.

Baekhyun’s stomach twisted. He missed the other boy’s warmth and his touch. 

“… That’s nice,” Luhan continued brightly, his expression easing into a grin. “I’ll do it with you next time, then.” _Do what? What will you be doing with him?!_ Baekhyun tangled the bedsheets in frustration. Why did Luhan look so happy talking with Sehun? Why didn’t he look like that when talking with _him_? 

“Okay, I will, I will. And you try not to annoy Tao so much, or he’ll whine to me again… Hey, stop calling me Hannie! Okay… bye, Sehunnie.”

_Finally._ Baekhyun fidgeted in irritation, trying not to scowl too obviously. His headache had returned with full force, and his throat felt sticky and painful. Luhan set down his phone, his smile fading as he took in Baekhyun’s emotionless state.

_Why did he stop smiling?_ Baekhyun grouched.

A few minutes later, Luhan came back to his room with an orange popsicle and a few books. 

“I found this in the freezer,” he handed Baekhyun the popsicle after helping him to sit up, “I guess Kai was trying to save it and hid it back there. It’ll make your throat feel better.” He sat on the edge of the bed.

Baekhyun stared at Luhan as he gave the popsicle a tentative lick. The sharp, sweet tanginess was cold and refreshing, soothing his throat immediately. Baekhyun took another lick. 

“You’re right, it’s really good!” He smiled at Luhan, feeling a bit better. Luhan seemed startled, quickly glancing away from his mouth and focusing on the pattern of his covers instead, a light pink colour dusting across his cheeks. They sat like that for a little while.

Baekhyun stared, transfixed, as he continued to eat his popsicle. Luhan seemed tired, his skin a little too pale and the circles under his eyes darker than usual. He really wanted to reach out and touch Luhan’s face, to rub away the lines of fatigue, to bring the light back into his eyes. Luhan suddenly leaned toward him to wipe his mouth, his thumb lightly brushing Baekhyun's skin. 

“You have juice all around your mouth,” he giggled. Baekhyun gulped, almost choking before he grinned back weakly. His stomach was feeling jittery again.

When Baekhyun finished the popsicle, Luhan arranged the covers across his lap and handed him the books. “You must be bored. If you don’t feel like sleeping yet, you can read these,” he offered. 

Baekhyun smiled at his thoughtfulness.

“Thanks, he said, picking one up. It felt heavy in his hands, and his eyes felt a bit unfocused on the words, making his headache worse. 

Luhan took the book back.

“I can read it to you, if you’d like,” he said.

“Really?” Baekhyun asked, sliding back down into the covers. “You’re the best,” he mumbled.

He heard Luhan begin reading, and warmth bloomed in his chest. All the tension leaked out of his body as he listened to Luhan’s soft voice, and as he closed his eyes, he felt completely at ease. 

* * *

Luhan tried to stay quiet as he headed to the kitchen to make some lemon tea with honey for Baekhyun’s sore throat. He glanced out the window. The snow had stopped falling long ago, and a pale light lit the streets outside. He imagined what the other members were doing at the festival. Sehun had promised to bring him something as a souvenir, he remembered.

When the water was ready, he prepared the tea and quietly returned back to Baekhyun’s bedroom, waiting patiently for the younger to wake up. It had been a rather eventful day, he thought. He recalled the strange feeling he’d had whenever Baekhyun touched him or smiled at him, and he wasn’t completely sure why. 

Did he… have feelings for him? He shook his head. Wait. How else would he explain the way his stomach had done acrobatic flips when the younger had embraced him earlier? And Baekhyun was really cute when he smiled. His eyes would crinkle and glitter brightly, making his heart jump erratically, just like it did when Baekhyun had asked him to stay by his side.

_But that didn’t mean anything_ , he reminded himself. Baekhyun hadn’t been aware of what he was doing because he was sick.

Luhan shouldn’t - couldn’t - take advantage of that. It would be too wrong of him. 

✲

When Baekhyun woke, Luhan could tell right away that something was off. Baekhyun was frowning, scrunching his face in pain. His eyes seemed almost glazed, completely unfocused. 

“Luhan hyung,” he rasped out, wincing as his head spun. Luhan went over to steady him, then gave him the tea to drink. He felt Baekhyun’s forehead. It was burning hot. When the younger finished the drink, he appeared to be a bit better, but he still seemed dazed. 

“Maybe you’ll get better faster if you eat something,” Luhan commented. “I should go make something for Sehun and the others to eat when they come back anyway.”

He fetched a towel that he washed with cold water and a box of fever cooling patches he'd bought that morning. He gently placed the towel on Baekhyun’s forehead and face, applying a bit of moisture to the skin. Baekhyun’s eyes stared at him the whole time, and he heard him muttering something almost inaudibly. 

“What are you trying to say?” he asked as he pasted a cooling patch on the younger’s forehead, but Baekhyun didn’t seem to understand. Luhan could barely make out the words _“_ _Luhan hyung_ _”_ , _“_ _no_ _”_ , “ _me_ ” and _“Sehun"_ from the ramble. He frowned as he sat back. 

“Why are you talking about Sehun?” he asked. “What does Sehun have to do with this?” he wondered.

Without warning, Baekhyun sat up and moved forward, his face looming a few centimetres away from Luhan’s. His gaze was fixed right on Luhan’s mouth. 

Luhan stopped breathing. _What was he doing?_ His heart started beating uncontrollably fast.

Baekhyun mumbled something incomprehensible. Luhan blinked, confused, and started to ask what he meant when he felt a touch against his mouth, a press of lips against his own, warm and tingling like an electric wave, sending a shiver down his spine. His eyes shot open wide and he jerked away, feeling the shock like a splash of freezing cold water. Baekhyun was watching him, unmoving, his expression apprehensive. They stared at each other for a long moment. Luhan was suddenly dizzy, and wasn’t sure he could deal with this at the moment. 

“Don’t - don’t do this,” he managed to whisper. It was the first thing he could think of to say. “I - no, don’t,” he moved back when Baekhyun started to reach for his hand. _This is wrong, this is totally wrong,_ his mind screamed. “We really shouldn’t,” he clenched his hands to keep from trembling. “You - you’re sick. You’re confused and you don’t know what you’re doing,” he paused, tearing his eyes away from Baekhyun’s stricken face. “You might not remember now, but we’re not… this close, usually, when you’re not - sick. You probably mistook me as someone else.” He swallowed the lump in his throat, avoiding Baekhyun’s gaze that was making his chest ache painfully. “When you get better - when you get clearer and remember… you’re going to regret it.”

Still not daring to breathe, Luhan stood shakily and left the room. 

* * *

At first, Baekhyun had been completely crushed. Because, well, Luhan had just turned him down, thinking Baekhyun was sick to the point that his brain couldn’t function at all, apparently. Even though he had been perfectly lucid the whole time. 

Because that was how much Luhan just _couldn’t accept_ the thought of them being together like that.

Baekhyun was realizing just how big of a mistake he had made. He curled up, depressed under the covers and thought back to the past few minutes, reliving the scenario again. He had been a little unfocused at first, he admitted. His head had been spinning and he’d felt hot - way too hot. But all of that had vanished the moment he’d heard Luhan say Sehun’s name. Again. Why did that irritate him so much?

Baekhyun had thought back to Luhan’s phone conversation with Sehun, and how the maknae had been teasing Luhan in the kitchen that morning. Chen’s words had flashed in his mind. _You know, if you don’t make your feelings clear, someone else might take your place before you know it_ , he’d said. He was right.

So when Baekhyun had seen Luhan’s mouth make out the shape of Sehun’s name yet again, he’d gathered the last bits and pieces of his courage and plowed ahead to show the fluffy-haired boy exactly how he felt for him.

His heart had cracked when Luhan had pulled away, his mouth tightening, his eyes dark and looking anywhere - anywhere but at Baekhyun. 

Luhan had turned him away because he hadn’t wanted to take advantage of him when he was sick. While it was an appreciated thought, Baekhyun wished that Luhan wouldn’t have to always follow his iron-ground morals. It was even worse how Luhan hadn’t seemed to believe that Baekhyun would ever feel this way for him normally. _Why not?_ He’d been sure Baekhyun would regret what he’d done if he ever remembered. _Why would I regret it?_

Baekhyun rolled over, miserable. _Well,_ he told himself, _at least Luhan hyung is too nice to treat me differently because of this. He wouldn’t avoid me or make me suffer. Maybe if I don’t mention this ever again, we’ll both pretend it never happened and we can still be friends._

With that thought, he finally managed to drift off to sleep. 

✲

Baekhyun’s fever broke about two hours later. He woke up sweating, with an unquenchable thirst. He lay still for a really long time, wondering what he should do.

His mouth suddenly went dry when he heard a noise and saw Luhan peer in through the doorway. Then the older boy approached cautiously with another glass of water. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, exactly, but Baekhyun noticed he didn’t sit on the edge of his bed anymore and he wouldn’t look directly in his eyes. His heart sank. 

“Thank you,” Baekhyun said to him after finishing the water. As always, Luhan seemed to just know exactly what he needed physically at the moment. But not emotionally.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Luhan smiled hesitantly at him. “Your condition was really bad earlier. I think you were delirious, and kept saying stuff that I couldn’t understand.”

Baekhyun turned away, frantically thinking of a way to respond.

“Oh, really? That’s - weird. Thanks for handling it,” he settled for saying, as evenly as possible.

Luhan relaxed, seeming less nervous. He probably thought Baekhyun didn’t remember the kiss at all. 

Luhan carefully brought him to the bathroom to wash his face, then Baekhyun stumbled after him out to the living room, shivering a little despite the fact that Luhan had already previously cranked up the thermostat. 

Luhan scooted over on the couch to make space for him, covering the two of them with a blanket and handing him the remote to choose what to watch on TV. Baekhyun settled against his chest, like normal. Luhan peeled oranges for him to eat and rubbed circles on his arm in his familiar way. 

Neither of them said anything else, just sitting side by side, not wanting to disrupt the temporary little bubble of calm between them. Baekhyun pointed out all the funny moments on screen and Luhan giggled as usual, but his eyes were focused straight ahead and his smiles weren't directed at Baekhyun. 

Throughout their attempt at normalcy, all the way until the other members returned home, Baekhyun felt a burning pit grow in his stomach. 

_How long could this possibly last?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! That was so long! Thank you for reading! I'm thinking about ending this story soon. I hope you're enjoying it so far! Please consider leaving a review :)


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